The Coming Storm
by Kaenlach
Summary: What if humanity didn't have to back down after the First Contact War, but instead was able to become strong enough to stand on equal footing against the Council? How would the Reaper War have ended? Could the Galaxy even be saved? Eventual Shepard (M) X Tali Sorry for the bad summary, I never was good at them
1. A Misunderstanding

_A/N Alright hello, this is an au version of Mass effect. I plan to try and keep it in line with the story while also keeping some of these ideas in the story. I would like to say that I got some of these ideas (namely the one for other galactic governments other than the Council) from Fullparagon's Meek story. Also this is my first attempt at a fan fiction type story so I hope people like it._

_Also, Mass Effect belongs to Bioware, so while I might have fun toying with their world, I do not actually own any of it, other than perhaps characters that I make up out of thin air._

_After some reviews expressing displeasure at this Chapter, I have felt the need to revise it slightly though I may have made it worse, I think it reads better this way and makes a bit more sense._

* * *

In the year 2118, a prospecting team discovered a subterranean alien ruin on mars. Within the ruins the team found stockpiles of weapons, ships, and unknown minerals. Within two years, human scientists had combed through the ruins to discover the purpose of the facility, as well as the name of the species that it had belonged to, the Protheans. As human understanding of the facility grew, they began to learn how to use and build the armaments that were found. Particle guns that could tear through armor shielding in seconds, advanced stealth units that could make a person completely disappear from all modern sensors, enormous starships, and the mineral called Element Zero which showed potential in unlocking previously unused portions of the human brain.

The news of this discovery sparked a war back on earth between the great superpowers of the age. For ten years the war raged until at its apex, explosions of light erupted across each of the great nations. Leaders who were thought to have escaped the destruction soon fell silent. In the absence of their governments, various groups attempted to take over in each of their own nations. These civil wars served to only weaken these devastated nations further.

While these larger nations were crippled and distracted, the empire was on its way to formation. Within ten years a new group brought together the smaller nations that had survived the great war and managed to avoid the destruction. This group began to bring the remnants of the great superpowers under their flag, showcasing a rudimentary mastery of the weapons cache on Mars. In another decade this group would become the Arcturus Empire, centered within Arcturus Station.

However, halfway through the Empire's formation a large transport of element zero, meant to be utilized for the foundation of the first Human engineered fleet, was destroyed within the atmosphere of Earth. The element zero spread across the Earth, causing severe health problems in nearly everyone unlucky enough to be exposed. Within a few months four billion humans had died of the cancer that the element zero caused, severely damaging the remaining human population of seven billion. But, the children of those who survived would continue on, with many exhibiting signs of special abilities.

These children would one day lead us to glory and salvation.

-_A lecture on Imperial History_

* * *

**Relay 314**

_-2157_

_Aboard the Turian dreadnaught Kepral._

CaptainVictus looked upon the deck of his latest command. Two days ago he had been given command of the Kepral and ordered to investigate some odd readings surrounding relay 314. Victus couldn't help but admire the sheer seize of the Mass Relays as the passed by it on their way to relay 314. As they exited FTL speed Victus noticed one of his XO, Caerun Sidonis approach him.

"Sir" The Caerun saluted Victus before continuing, "We have picked up some unknown ships surrounding the relay."

Victus arched a brow plate at the XO, "Unknown?" he questioned, "What are these ships doing around the relay?"

A turian at of the ships monitoring stations responded, "They appear to be activating the relay, sir."

Victus could hear Caerun growl, "That is a blatant offense to Citadel law, we must take action sir."

Victus slumped back in his chair, "My first command and I get to begin conflict with a new enemy." he said before motioning towards his communications officer, "Contact the Hierarchy and inform them that we are about to enter combat with an unknown enemy." he ordered.

"Everyone else, to your stations and prepare for combat."


	2. First Contact

_A/N Alright so here is the latest chapter that I have put up, I would also like to say that I am happy to see that there are those who appear interested in seeing where this story goes and I hope you all enjoy it. Also, while I got this out within a day, I don't expect to be able to keep up that kind of a pace and, as the story goes, I may be increasing the amount of time it takes to upload these chapters. _

* * *

**Arcturus Station**

_-2157_

Grand marshal Hackett sat in the station's war room, listening to reports from across the spreading empire. "Sir" Hackett looked towards the young soldier as he saluted the Grand Marshal, "Our vanguard forces in the Attican Traverse have encountered a race of aliens calling themselves, Batarians."

Hackett nodded slowly, turning to the emperor's emissary, "Opinions?" he asked.

The emissary stood up and slammed his fist on the table in front of him, "We should eradicate these vermin, who dare to step on imperial property." he shouted.

Hackett heard a polite cough to his left and looked at his chief strategist Karin Shepard, "With all due respect to the emissary, sir." She said, "I do not believe that we should begin a war with a race that has, as of yet, not shown any hostile actions towards us."

The emissary grunted before planting himself back into his seat as Karin continued, "Instead, I would recommend that we monitor the species and see if we can not either integrate them into the empire or, at the very least, from an alliance with them."

Hackett nodded to his strategist before standing and addressing the war room, " Very well, have the vanguard forces keep and eye on these Batarians but avoid direct confrontation if at all possible, also send in the infiltration units to see if we can't find a way to integrate them into the Empire." The soldier saluted and turned to leave the room as the doors were loudly thrown open.

Everyone in the room turned their heads to the messenger who had come bursting into the room. Hackett stood up and glared at the new arrival, "What is the meaning of this intrusion?" he shouted.

The messenger approached Hackett and his advisors, "Sir" he panted, "We have communications from the security team at relay designation 314, they are under attack by an unknown enemy."

Hackett thought for a moment before responding, "Send out the 1st fleet to relieve the security forces at the relay." he ordered, " and send orders to ramp up production of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fleets, I have a feeling that we may need them."

Karin grabbed Hackett's shoulder, "Sir, if we send the entirety of the 1st fleet, then Arcturus station will be largely undefended if this enemy attacks here."

Hackett nodded, "It is a risk we are going to have to take, if we can project a large amount of strength in one area then perhaps we might trick the enemy into thinking have more military strength then we do have."

Karin nodded her head, "But, couldn't we at least pull back the vanguard forces as a precaution?" she asked.

Hackett thought for a moment before shaking his head, "No, these Batarians have me concerned and it would leave out latest colonies undefended." he said.

Karin nodded her head before leaving the war room to prepare some potential strategies for the coming fight.

* * *

**Relay 314**

_1st fleet flagship, Constantine_

"Sir, we have arrived just outside of the relay." the ship's flight lieutenant reported to Hackett, "It appears that the security forces have been largely decimated, but the enemy forces are still sitting here, they may be waiting for reinforcements."

One of the Constantine's analysts reported to Hackett next, "Sir" she saluted, "After a quick analysis of the enemy ship, we have determined that the hulls of the ship wont last long against our forward particle guns, however, their guns appear to have a longer range, based off of how thoroughly they destroyed the security forces and our hull wont last long against a prolonged bombardment." she reported, "We would suggest coming up behind the ship and firing before they know what is happening."

Hackett nodded at his officers, "Very well" he said, "take us in quickly and quietly, and signal the rest of the fleet to fire as soon as they are in range, but shoot to disable, I want prisoners to interrogate.

* * *

**Relay 314**

_Turian dreadnaught Kepral_

"Sir, our scanners are picking up multiple hostiles appearing behind us, their IFFs are showing the same signature as the ships around the relay."

Victus stood up and began ordering his crew, "Spirits, turn the ship around and begin firing as soon as we are in po.." Victus stumbled as the ship was rocked by the impact of the enemy fleet's weapons.

The Kepral's navigation officer spoke up, "Sir navigation has been knocked out and our weapon systems are offline."

Victus growled as another officer tried to get his attention, "Sir one of their ships is coming up along side us, they appear to be trying to board."

Sidonis grabbed the intercom, "Attention all hands prepare for boarding, I want to see covering fire throughout the hallway leading from the docking port." he said, "Don't let a single alien into the command deck, For the Hierarchy."

* * *

**Relay 314**

_1st fleet flagship, Constantine_

Hackett looked out at the damaged alien vessel as his boarding officer approached him, "Sir, we are ready to board the vessel." He reported.

Hackett nodded, " Send in the 3rd and 4th infiltration regiments, tell them to knife any point of weakness they can find, if they can't find one, then short range with their side arms should do the trick." he ordered, "Also send in a couple Wraiths to be safe."

The officer looked up at Hackett in shock, "Wraiths sir? isn't that a little excessive?" he stammered, "I mean, you know how they are."

Hackett glared at the officer, "Major, the Wraiths are the best of our operatives and have guarded the emperor since their creation, you should be honored to have them serve in this boarding action, especially if they can keep you and your men from being slaughtered."

The Major nodded his head solemnly before saluting the War Marshal and heading to carry out his orders. "And remember, anyone holding a weapon is to be eliminated, with an exception to obvious commanders, everyone else is to be captured and prepared for interrogation."

The Major turned around and saluted Hackett, "As you command, sir."

* * *

**Relay 314**

_Turian dreadnaught Kepral_

Sidonis looked over to Victus, who was staring intently at the Kepral's virtual schematics, "Don't worry sir, anything comes through those doors and our men will annihilate them."

Victus slowly shook his head, "I'm not so sure Sidonis, something feels off about this, I mean look at how easily they managed to disable our ship."

Sidonis laughed, "Ha, just a few lucky shots when we had our backs turned." He asserted, "They are nothing but a bunch of cowards, not capable of standing up in a fight against true Turians."

Victus was about to respond as sirens began blaring throughout the ship, "We have multiple hostiles on our scanners in the hallway but we can't make any pinpoint definitions on their locations, something appears to be blocking our scans."

Victus looked over at Sidonis before they heard another report from his Security officer, "Sir, our men are being decimated down here but we can't see any kind of enemy down here until they fire their weapons."

Victus glared at the ship's schematics before pointing towards the hallway leading to the command deck, "Captain, I want you to retreat to Deck 3-06, provide suppression fire throughout the retreat and make sure to keep up the blanket, if we can't see them then we will have to fire blind and hope something dies."

The Captain looked at what remained of his security force and transmitted their new orders. As they began their retreat, they noticed that they had began hitting enemy soldiers, the soldiers were dressed in what appeared to be short coat uniforms with little armor or shielding. He was also shocked to discover that the men were only armed with a small side arm and a short blade like weapon.

As the Captain made his way to the designated position, he began to regain his hope that they would be able to press back and, ultimately, destroy their enemy. He turned on his communicator to contact Victus, "Sir, we have begun to take out their stealth units and they appear to be lightly armored, I think we can win this." he reported, as his hope began to rise along with the enemy body count, the Captain failed to notice the drain coming on his strength or the pair of brightly glowing figures coming around the corner.

Victus began to feel a sense of elation at the Captain's report. Then he heard the screams coming through both the channels and the door leading into the hallway that the security forces had retreated to, "Captain?!" he shouted, "Captain what is your teams status?" the communication line was silent, that was when they heard banging begin on the door.

The door began to bend and crack from the force of whatever was hitting it, until it was blown open in a sapphire explosion. "Spirits, those doors should have stopped anything short of a matriarch from entering." he said as two figures appeared from the smoke.

Victus noticed that the figures were wearing long black coats with what appeared to be a hollow head silently screaming embroidered on an emblem on the right side of their chests. They both had shaggy grey hair and what looked like crimson, cybernetic eyes. Before Victus could stop him, Sidonis had drawn his weapon and attempted to fire at the figures but one of them glowed brightly and threw him up into the air, crushing him against the side of the ship.

In the next moment Victus found a gun pointed at his head as a soldier appeared out of thin air next to him and saw that most of his crew was in a similar situation. He looked over towards the two odd men and noticed that one of them appeared to be bleeding from bullet wounds sustained when came through the security team. Victus was amazed that the man appeared to be standing without any problem.

The other man walked towards Victus and in an empty voice spoke to him in a language that his translator could barely understand, "Your ship, ours, your lives, ours, Empire wants answers." despite the difficulties from the translator Victus had a good guess of what these men wanted him and his men for.


	3. Batarians!

**Arcturus Station**

_2157_

Grand Marshall Hackett found himself sitting in the war room once again, despite the victory at Relay 314 and news of the success in the Traverse, he couldn't help but feel a growing sense of dread.

The officer overseeing the vanguard forces stepped forward to give his report to the Grand Marshall, "Sir, our agents have managed to learn more about the Batarians." Hackett nodded for him to continue, "It seems that they are ruled via a totalitarian government, from their home planet of Kar'shan. Our strategists believe that if we could send some operatives to their planet we may be able to either start or assist a revolution on the planet and potentially integrate the race into the empire."

Hackett nodded at the officer, "Thank you for the report General, see to it that the operatives are sent in, and do whatever is required to bring the Batarians to us." The General saluted Hackett before heading out to follow his orders.

* * *

**Arcturus Station**

_1st fleet flagship, Constantine_

Karin Shepard calmly walked into the interrogation room the Victus was being held in, "So, I'm assuming that you can understand me, considering I'm using one of your translating devices that we recovered from your ship."

Victus glared up at Shepard, "What is it you want Alien?"

Shepard looked at Victus for a moment before chuckling to her self, "I suppose we would be aliens to you wouldn't we, funny I had never thought about that." Shepard shook her head before sitting down across from Victus, "Well to answer your question, I want to know why you attack our security forces and why you were invading Imperial space."

"Is that all?" Victus questioned, "Well it is pretty simple, you aliens were violating Council laws and it is the duty of the Turians to ensure that any who violate Council laws be punished."

Shepard cocked her head to the left in confusion, "What Council?" She asked, "And what laws?"

Victus simply grunted, "It doesn't matter, the Hiearchy already knows about your transgressions and when we fail to report back, they will send the fleet."

Shepard looked at Victus in shock for a moment, "Damn." she said as she rushed out of the interrogation room and began to head for the war room.

* * *

**Arcturus Station**

Hackett found himself nearly running into Shepard on his way out of the war room. Shepard quickly stood straight and saluted the Grand Marshall, "At ease Shepard, what has you in such a hurry?" He asked.

Shepard nodded to Hackett as she relaxed, "Sir, it seems the Aliens, apparently called Turians by the way, were able to get a message to their government." She reported, "And they are likely to send a fleet to attack us."

Hackett nodded, "Damn, I was afraid of this." he stated, "We don't have the ships or manpower for a protracted war, as things stand now anyways." Hackett began to pace before Shepard stopped him.

"Sir, what about those Batarians?" She questioned, "Do we have any news on them? They may be able to shore up some of our weaknesses and give us a fighting chance."

Hackett nodded, "There has been slight progress but it will be some time before we will know if anything comes of it, and I do not think these Turians will politely wait for us to get stronger." Hackett sighed, "I guess we will just have to pray that the gods of war do not abandon us yet."

* * *

**Imperial Colony: Shanxi **

_Turian Flagship, Khulan: 2158_

Commander Corinthus looked down at the conquered colony below the Dreadnaught, "Pathetic humans, they didn't even put up a fight when we arrived." he muttered to himself.

Sir, the few holdouts still on the colony are putting up minimal resistance." a private reported, "However, our projections are reporting them to be crushed in potentially three weeks."

Corinthus nodded at the private, "Very good Private, now let's prepare the colony for..." Corinthus stopped talking as the ship's sirens began blaring.

"Sir, we have Human vessels appearing on our scanners." Reported one of Corinthus's monitoring officers.

Corinthus nodded, "Very well, signal the fleet to keep it's distance and begin firing as soon as they are in range, if their ships get close we will be dead in space."

As Corinthus began to focus on the enemy in front of him, another one of his monitoring officers began to report, "Sir, we are seeing what appears to be a Batarian fleet approaching from behind us."

"What?!" Corinthus shouted, "Spirits, we can't deal with the damn Batarians at the same time here." Corinthus thought to himself for a second, "Attempt to hail the Batarians, let's see if we can get them to join us in attacking the Humans." Corinthus's communication officer nodded.

The communication officer hailed the Batarian fleet and managed to get what appeared to be the Batarian captain on screen in front of Corinthus, "What do you have to say Turian?" said the Batarian.

Corinthus stared at the Batarian for a moment, noticing the odd uniform that the Batarian was wearing, "Your fleet appeared to be coming towards ours while we were in the middle of a police actions, unless you intend to help maintain galactic peace, we will have to insist that you immediately leave this space."

The Batarian laughed at Corinthus, "You Turians, so high and mighty, thinking yourselves the police of the entire universe." he mocked, "Yet you aren't even aware of the political climate of those around you." The Batarian slowly shook his head, "No, you will pull your forces back, or we shall annihilate you all, for the Arcturan Empire." The Batarian cut the channel.

Corinthus stared at the dead screen for a moment, "Spirits, signal the fleet to retreat past the relay, we wont survive this type of a pincer." Corinthus ordered.

Corinthus shook his head as he thought about what just happened, "How did those Humans manage to gain the allegiance of the Batarians?" He muttered to himself.

* * *

_A/N Alright, I feel as though I should explain the reason for the naming system I am using for Turians in the story. Quite frankly, I'm not quite good at making names for the species that are convincingly Turian, they have always (even the canon ones) sounded too... human to me, so I am largely trying to use canon family names for small part Turians where I can._


	4. Allegiance and Hatred

_A/N Alright, figured I would do a little flashback mostly explaining how these two races came together, while also showing some of the reason for the hatred for the Wraiths, though this isn't the end of either issue, so I hope you all enjoy._

_Also I wanted to say a quick thank you to Darman for providing me with a site for making decent Turian names._

_Chains- I get what you are saying though please note that even with the prothean tech that the humans managed to understand and integrate, they are still far from perfecting it. So while they have firepower on par with the Collector ship from the game they lack the understanding to increase the range of the guns or how to duplicate the strength of the ships hulls. If they get close enough in Human ships are definently likely to win in a ship to ship fight (boardings might be different ofcourse) but at range they are very vulnerable. I think I explained my thinking clearly here please let me know if there are any questions or suggestions (anyone)._

* * *

**Khar'Shan**

_2157, 6 months prior to the liberation of Shanxi_

Twenty-five imperial infiltrators stood around a camp, thirty clicks outside of the Batarian capital city, "What are we doing on this hell hole anyways?" asked one of the soldiers.

One of the other soldiers present slowly shook his head, "Ours' is not to question the will of the empire, you know that Roy."

Roy grunted before nodding his head, "Ya, but what about the Wraith?" he complained, "Did we really need to have one of them accompany us?" Roy began to pace back and forth, while nervously glancing towards Wraith who was standing off to the side staring towards the city, "You've heard the stories about them Robert." He whispered to his friend, "How their training cracks their minds and drives them insane, how long will it be before this one turns on us in a mad rage?"

Robert slowly shook his head at Roy, "The stories are just stories Roy, I have never once heard of a Wraith turning on any of our men and I doubt that we will see them do so." Robert moved away from Roy and headed towards where the Wraith was standing.

The Wraith could see a figure begin coming closer to them from the city with his cybernetic eyes, but they were still to far away to be considered a threat, "Hey Wraith, what are you looking at." Said a voice behind him.

The Wraith glanced towards Robert for a moment before looking back towards a figure, "Someone is approaching, might be our contact." He stated

Robert looked out in the direction the Wraith was looking in, but he couldn't see anything, "Wow, those must be some eyes you have there Wraith, I can't see anything from here." He said, "Out of curiosity, since we still have to wait to find out who the figure is, do you happen to have a name?"

The Wraith looked back at the soldier for a moment, "You sure you want to be seen talking to the unstable lunatic?" he grunted.

Robert was shocked, before looking down at his feet in shame, "You heard Roy talking didn't you?" he asked.

The Wraith shook his head, "No, but it is the usual story whenever one of us gets assigned to work with a group of soldiers." He said, "But, as for my name, it is Cal."

Robert smiled and extended his hand towards Cal, "I'm Robert." He said.

Cal looked down at Roberts hand in confusion before turning back towards the direction of the figure, "She is almost here and she appears to be the contact we were waiting for, tell the commander to be ready Robert." Robert smiled slightly at the usage of his name before heading off to go inform the Commander.

Commander Kai, weighted at the entrance to her camp with the rest of her men as the Batarian woman approached the entrance, "Halt!" she shouted, "Stay right there, hands up and I will have one of my men check you for weapons." The Batarian nodded and held up her hands as the men searched her, "She's clean Commander." Said the soldier.

The Kai looked the Batarian slowly up and down, she noticed that the female looked quite similar to the that they had been interacting with lately, with the notable distinction of her chest, the fact that her hands appeared to have sharp claws at the end of her fingers, and the slightly higher pitch in her voice.

Kai brought her gaze back up and stared at the Batarian in her first set of eyes, "As we said in our communications with your people, we would like to extend the offer for your species to join the Arcturus Empire." She said.

The Batarian nodded, "Yes, I remember, however, as we have told you before, we are merely a rebellion." She said, "we don't have the resources to leave or the manpower to take over."

Kai nodded thoughtfully, "That is why our men are here." She said, "If the more influential and troublesome leaders were... to disappear, could you seize total power?" She asked.

The Batarian thought for a moment, "Yes, given a month after they are gone and we could convince most of the leaders who are on the fence to our way of thinking, especially if they think we will be stronger for it." She said, "But, what would we have to do in exchange? We will not break free from one oppressor just to chain ourselves to another."

Kai chuckled, "Well, your oaths of loyalty would have to be taken, though we can do a more official ceremony at a later date, more importantly, we would need your fleet to help us liberate Shanxi and other colonies from Turian control." She said, "As for the slavery, slaves are illegal in the empire, your people would have the same status as any imperial citizen and all the rights that comes with that, although your military will be expected to live up to the same codes as our own, we live for the empire, we fight for the empire, and we die for the empire."

The Batarian nodded, "This is acceptable, however, I want Batarians governing the current Hogemony colonies." The Batarian grinned, "And I want to govern Khar'Shan myself."

Kai smiled, "I'm sure that can be arranged, Miss?"

"Bur'kress" replied the Batarian

Kai nodded, "Very well Miss. Bur'kress, give us 4 months." She ordered, "And make sure your people are ready to take over at the end of those 4 months, afterwards, let us know if there are any other troublemakers."

Bur'kress nodded and attempted to mimic the salute she had seen one of the Commander's soldiers do towards her before she turned around and headed back to tell the Resistance the good news.

Kai couldn't help but chuckle at Bur'kress's attempted salute, "We will have to work on that" She mumbled, "But at least the Grand Marshall should be happy with this turn of events."

**Citadel Council Chambers**

_2158_

Tevos finished reading the report provided by Councilor Sparatus, regarding the Turian Hiearchy's police action against the race known as Humans. She looked over to see Sparatus growling as he re-read how Corinthus was forced to retreat from Shanxi and Councilor Valern patiently waiting for them both to finish.

Sparatus slammed his datapad onto the table, "Do you see now, we can't let these humans continue to violate our laws, I propose we send the entirety of the Citadel fleet to crush these upstarts before they become an even greater threat."

Valern slowly shook his head, "This allegiance with the Batarians is... concerning, but war may end up hurting us in the long run, especially if they manage to convince the Terminus that we are overextending ourselves here."

Sparatus growled at Valern, "Why would the Terminus Systems care about what these children are doing."

Tevos spoke up, "No Sparatus, Valern is right." She stated, "The Batarians have always had some measure of influence out there and if the Terminus Systems think that we will come after them next they may unite with these Humans like the Batarians did."

Sparatus grunted, "Very well, proposal withdrawn."

Tevos nodded, "We should attempt diplomacy, perhaps we can still salvage a decent relationship with the Humans."

Valern nodded in aggreement, "Seconded."

Sparatus growled, "Very well, I will inform the Hiearchy to pull back it's troops." He said, "But we are washing our hands of this affair, what happens next is on your heads."

Valern chuckled to himself, "Good, maybe we shall actually get some positive progress going then."

Tevos slowly shook her head as she noticed Sparatus narrow his eyes towards Valern after his comment, "Then if that is all, our meeting is adjourned."

**Arcturus Station**

_1st fleet flagship, Constantine_

Hackett stood on the bridge of the Constantine as his communication's officer approached him, "Sir, an alien vessel has appeared out of the relay and is slowly approaching us." he reported, "Our scans indicate that the ship's weapons systems are powered down and they appear to be attempting to hail us."

Hackett nodded, nervous at the prospect of a new threat arising so soon after the liberation of the human colonies, "Very well Yeoman Duran, set up a communication's link." He ordered, "Let's see what these aliens have to say."

Duran returned to his console and brought up the communications screen for Hackett. As the connection was made a blue woman with what appeared to be tentacle like things on her head in place of hair appeared on screen.

Hackett momentarily looked at the woman in shock, wondering if he was ever going to get used to how odd these new alien species, "I am Grand Marshall Hackett of the Arcturan Imperial Military." He said, "Don't move your vessel any closer or we will be forced to destroy."

The Asari nodded and looked off screen to order her pilot to stop moving the ship forward, "Hello Hackett, I am Matriarch Benezia of the Asari Republics, representing the Citadel Council." she stated, "I am here to negotiate an end to hostilities and potentially, to welcome your race into the galactic community."

Hackett looked at her, dumbstruck, "End of hostilities?" he questioned, "So you are with those Turians who enacted attacks against us and our colonies?"

The Asari hesitently nodded, "Yes they are part of the Citadel Council with us, as are a race called the Salarians." she confirmed, "However, the rest of the Council did not sanction the Turian's attacks against your people."

Hackett began to smile, "So if we agreed with your terms, cessation of hostilities and joining the Citadel Council, then would the Turians be punished for their aggressive actions?

Benezia cocked her head in confusion, "You misunderstand Grand Marshall, you wouldn't be on the council, but you would be more of a client member of the Citadel, you have to earn you place onto the council." She explained, "And the Turians were well within their rights to ensure that galactic law is maintained, albeit they could have been much more diplomatic about it."

Hackett felt himself gripping the railing tightly and gritting his teeth in anger, "With all due respect, Matriarch, your Citadel Council can go screw themselves." He said angrily, "As for ceasing hostilities, we are willing to end them now, for the sake of our men and women."

Benezia nodded sadly, "Very well, it is a shame that you refuse to join us, but the choice is yours."

Hackett took a couple deep breaths to calm himself before continuing, "I will send over a couple of ambassadors to go with you back to your Citadel to hammer out the details of this ceasefire, along with their bodyguards." he said.

Benezia nodded, "Very well, as a gesture of good faith, we will send over my partner Matriarch Ilune as an ambassador to your government." she responded.

Hackett nodded, "That would be acceptable, just ensure that your dogs are kept on a leash from now on." Hackett said, anger momentarily flaring again, before turning to Duran, "Cut transmission."

* * *

_A/N Alright, I'm planning this to be the end of the First Contact war portion of the story and begin moving into the Sheppard sibling's story. I know there are still a few things left unanswered but they should be answered later on with this providing enough backstory for people to not be lost (including myself) in the reasons for why some people act the way they are in this changed universe._

_Also for future plans in the story SPOILER-a certain Spectre will stay alive, because I didn't like their death-end SPOILER. _

_I also intend to have more races join the empire and have two confirmed so far (shouldn't be too difficult to guess who they are) but am looking for others that I might be able to work in, so if you have any requests for a race you want to see brought in further please go ahead and share, I wont guarantee that I will use them but I will definitely consider any suggestions._


	5. Eden Prime

_A/N I just want to say that I'm happy to see that people are enjoying the story and that I hope everyone enjoys the main act._

* * *

**Normandy SR1**

_2183_

Commander Kayla Shepard walked onto the Normandy's bridge to check on how the ship was running on it's first patrol. As she approached behind the pilot, a man with short black hair and wearing a Wraith uniform turned and discreetly nodded to her as he walked by.

"God those Wraith guys creep me out" She heard the pilot saying, "Why do we have to have one on a vessel like this?" He questioned.

Before she had a chance to reprimand him a soldier sitting next to him spoke up, "Wraiths are just people Joker." He said, "And Chiron is a good man, if a bit personal, you should be able to look past those prejudices."

Joker sighed, "Ya well, he's still creepy." he mumbled.

"Enough with the gossiping soldiers." Kayla said startling Joker, "How's the ship handling Flight Lieutenant?" she questioned.

"Like a dream come true Commander." he replied, "Also, Captain Anderson would like to speak with you in the debriefing room right away." Shepard nodded before turning around and heading to meet Anderson. As she made her way through the CIC, she couldn't help but here the rumors. Pressley talking to Adams about how Anderson and a Wraith don't get assigned to "do nothing" missions. Pressley stopped the commander as she came near.

"Ma'am, I wanted to know your thoughts on all of this, if you don't mind." He said.

Kayla sighed, "Very well Pressley, but try to keep it quick, I need to visit the Captain."

Pressley nodded, "Do you and the captain really trust these aliens?" He asked, motioning towards the Quarians working at various stations on the ship, "I mean, sure they have never been hostile to us, but they aren't a part of the Empire."

Kayla slowly shook her head in frustration, "Pressley, the Quarians have been nothing but friends to the Empire since we first ran into the Migrant Fleet." she said angrily, "And it was their technology that assisted us in creating the ship you are currently serving on, they deserve to be here and they deserve your respect."

"Even if they are not a part of the Empire, they are still our friends."

Pressley nodded his head, "Right ma'am, I meant no offense, it's just that my family fought in the First Contact war, I have a slight distrust of those not with the empire."

Kayla sighed before nodding, "Very well Pressley, I understand your reservations but please at least trust in the Captain."

Pressley saluted Kayla, "As you say Commander." he said.

Kayla nodded and headed off to see the Captain. As she entered the debriefing room, she noticed the Wraith from earlier standing there, looking at an image of Eden Prime, "Sister." he said simply, in acknowledgment of her presence.

Kayla chuckled, "It's been some time Chiron, glad to see they put you with us." she said, "Though I wish they taught you how to not freak out my pilots." she joked.

Chiron turned around and smiled at her, "Maybe High Command will do a better job teaching social interactions with the next batch."

"Though you have to admit, it's funny seeing them freeze up in fear when you stare at them." he said and began to chuckle.

Kayla rolled her eyes at her brother, "See" she said, "That right there is how the rumors get started Chiron, couldn't you at least try to be friendly, and not creepy, to the people in charge of critical systems?"

Chiron chuckled some more, "Maybe." he said, "At least to the Quarians, the Human members are just to much fun." He grinned at her.

Kayla through up her hands in mock frustrations, "You and your Quarian fetishes."

Chiron laughed, "Xenophobe."

Before Kayla could retort she heard a voice behind her, "If you two are quite finished with your bickering." said Captain Anderson, "Then maybe we can get to the reason why we are here."

Chiron and Kayla turned towards the Captain and saluted as he told them the mission details, "We're not just out here on a test mission." Anderson confirmed, "Were going to meeting a Turian Council Spectre planet side."

Kayla spoke up, "Permission to speak freely, Sir?" Anderson nodded to her, "Why the hell are we meeting with a council operative?"

Anderson sighed, "We are no longer at war with the Council Commander, and we could use their help deciphering a device we discovered on the planet."

"Sir, couldn't we just decipher it ourselves, like we did with Mars?" Chiron asked.

Anderson nodded, "We could, but we wouldn't get as much information as we might be able to get by working with the Council." he explained, "It may also earn us some good will in the Galaxy, which would be a boon if war erupted between our two governments."

Chiron nodded before Joker spoke over the intercom, "Sir, we are getting a distress call coming from the planet, patching it through." he said. As Joker connected the message, footage of imperial soldiers being shot at and explosions appeared on screen, "We have confirmed multiple con... Oh my god." said a soldier on screen as the footage zoomed out to an enormous ship coming out of the sky and landing at the colony. The footage ended as the ship touched down.

Anderson addressed Chiron, "Wraith, take a squad down the surface, try to meet up with the Spectre named Nihlus Kryik and ensure the safety of the artifact." he ordered.

Chiron saluted before heading down to collect his ground team and deploy onto the planet. Kayla looked at Anderson for a moment, "What about me Sir?" she asked.

"Your needed here in case something happens Commander, a Wraith has a better chance against a hostile spectre and we can't be sure that this isn't Nihlus's doing." He replied.

Kayla saluted and headed back to the CIC.

**Eden Prime**

Chiron exited the shuttle, flanked by Major Alenko and Private Jenkins, "Alright, remember to stealth up as we near the colony." He ordered. As they neared the colony, Chiron began to hear a whirring sound coming from the air. Before he could issue a warning, three drones came out of nowhere and began to fire on Jenkins, tearing apart his armor before he had a chance to fire a shot, "Alenko get to cover and stealth up!" he shouted, "I'll try to draw their fire." Alenko nodded before diving behind a rock and activating his stealth module.

Chiron gathered a barrier around himself and threw a singularity at the drones. One of the drones became caught in the singularity and ended up being slammed into a nearby tree. As the other two began to focus on Chiron, Alenko was able to shoot down one of the drones.

As the remaining drone began to fire at Chiron, he pulled out his sidearm and shot it down just as the drones turret broke through his barrier, "Hmm, it seems there was a bit of a burn there at the end." he mumbled to himself.

Alenko looked over at the dead soldier, "What should we do about Jenkins Sir?" he asked.

Chiron looked down at Jenkins before turning off towards the settlement, "We continue on with the mission." he said. Alenko nodded and followed him towards the colony.

As they turned around another corner they heard gun fire and saw a soldier running from a group of synthetics. As she dove behind a rock, trying to catch her breath, Alenko began to fire at the synthetics as Chiron threw a couple of the synthetics into the air and crushing them against rocks.

When the last of the synthetics died Chiron approached the woman, "Report soldier." he ordered.

The soldier looked at the Wraith with a shocked expression before responding, "Geth Sir, they arrived late last night and began suddenly attacking my squad." She reported, "I'm all that's left."

Chiron nodded, "What's the status of the artifact?" he asked, "And have you seen a Turian around here?"

The soldier looked shocked at the mention of the Turian, "Um, sir I'm not sure why you would ask about one of them being here, but no I haven't seen one." she said, "As for the artifact, it was back at the port, but the Geth have overrun the facility."

Chiron sighed, "Very well, more work to do." he mumbled, "You still able to fight soldier?"

The soldier nodded and they began to head towards the port. As they reached what appeared to be a dig site, they saw a group of Geth restraining a number of colonists on top of devices. Before Chiron could issue any orders, spikes erupted from the devices, impaling the colonists.

Alenco noticed Chiron begin to bristle in anger as his biotics flared around him. Before he could do anything, he saw the wraith throw a large ball of biotic power at the group of Geth. When the ball made contact it exploded in energy, shredding the Geth to pieces. As he was about to comment on Chiron's display of power, he noticed that the Wraith had briefly collapsed from exhaustion, "Wraith, are you alright?" he asked.

Chiron chuckled as he slowly got back up, "Ya, something High Command taught us, packs quite a punch but it really expends energy." he said, "I wont be able to use my biotics again for a little while."

Alenko nodded as they headed up towards the port. When they came up towards some science buildings, the found some more colonists impaled on spikes. As they got nearer, the spikes began to retract and the bodies began to get up. Chiron took a look at the bodies and noticed that they appeared to be dried up and had what appeared to be implants spread throughout their body, "Kill these creatures." he ordered the two soldiers.

The soldiers quickly killed the husks, "What in the world did the Geth do to them." the soldier wondered aloud.

"It doesn't matter right now" Chiron responded, "We need to complete out mission now."

The soldiers finally arrived at the port and found a Turian's body lying on the ground with a bullet hole in the back of his head, "Was this your Turian, Wraith?" asked the soldier.

Chiron kneeled down and inspected the body, "Hm, I'm not sure but it would make sense." he responded

Alenko raised his gun as he heard a noise come from behind a bunch of crates, "Come out from behind there, slowly." he ordered. What appeared to be a colonist appeared from behind the crates.

Chiron stood up and approached the colonist, "Did you see what happened here?" he asked.

The colonist nodded nervously, "Ye..yes, Sir." He replied, "That Turian there was chatting with another one named, Saren or something and as he let his guard down, that Saren fellow shot him in the head."

The soldier walked up to him, "And what exactly were you doing behind those crates Dhelan?" she asked glaring at him.

Dhelan looked back at her nervously, "Well, I was just taking a nap because the day was slow." he said sheepishly.

The soldier just glared at him, "Unbelievable, my entire squad dies fighting these things, and he survives due to laziness."

"Enough, we must get to the artifact now." ordered Chiron.

The soldier guided Chiron and Alenko to the Geth infested tram. After they fought their way past the Geth they got on the tram and headed for the port.

As they waited to arrive, Chiron looked over at the soldier, "You don't happen to know what happened to the ship that we assume the Geth came from do you?" he asked.

The soldier shook her head, "It left shortly before you saved me sir." she said. Chiron nodded and prepared to leave the tram as they arrived.

As they exited the tram they noticed Geth guarding a number of bombs positioned around the facility, "Alright Alenko, stealth up and take out the geth at the bomb across the way from here, deactivate it if you can." Chiron ordered, "Same orders for you soldier, though I want you at the far bomb this side."

"I'll take the bomb near us and we can all meet up at the final bomb." The soldiers saluted and headed off to take care of their duties. Chiron upholstered his pistol and took aim at the Geth's weak points, using his cybernetic eyes. His first shot killed the centermost Geth instantly, while his second and third only wounded the other two as they got out of the way. As the Geth dove behind some boxes, Chiron threw a grenade towards them. When the grenade exploded it sent out a biotic wave the lifted the Geth into the air, letting Chiron shoot them in critical areas.

Chiron and the soldiers met back up at the final bomb and after disarming it arrived at a set of stairs leading to the artifact. As they went down the stairs, they noticed that the Geth appeared to have left and the artifact was glowing strangely, "Ha! Looks like we scared off those flashlight heads, Sir." said the soldier as she started walking towards the artifact.

"Joker we have the artifact and are ready for extraction." Chiron said to through the communicator. As he turned back towards his team he saw the soldier they had picked up being suspended in air near the artifact. Chiron raced over to the soldier and threw her out of the artifacts grip. However he was not able to get away from it as it suspended him. He began to feel an enormous burning sensation in his head as brief images passed in front of his eyes, before he blacked out.


	6. This is too easy

_A/N alright so this is a bit longer then what I usually do so if anyone thinks it is too long, let me know and I'll look into splitting the longer missions into halves when I get to them._

* * *

**Normandy SR1**

_three days after Eden Prime_

Kayla Shepard was sitting next to her brother's bed in the med bay. Chiron Shepard had been unconscious ever since they brought him back from Eden Prime and she was beginning to wonder if he would wake up, "Commander, you really should go get some sleep, you waiting here wont make him get any better." counseled Chakwas.

Kayla shook her head, "I don't care Doc, he is my brother and I'm not leaving him alone again." she said solemnly.

Chakwas nodded, "Be that as it may Commander, I will sedate you if you stay up much longer."

Before Kayla could retort, the monitors hooked up to Chiron began going off, as he sat up, "Man, I'm hungry." she heard him say.

Kayla punched him in the shoulder, "Your not supposed to go unconscious during a mission idiot." she said as he grinned rubbing his arm.

"Good to see you still care, Kayla." he said

Kayla nodded, "Oh, Anderson wanted to know when you got up so you could give your report" she said, "let me get him." Chiron nodded as she left.

As Kayla and Anderson returned to the med bay, they saw that Chiron had gotten dressed back in his uniform and was waiting for them to give his report.

"Alright Wraith, what happened down there?" Anderson asked.

"Geth sir, they sacked the colony." Chiron reported, "After we wiped them out, I got to close to the artifact apparently."

"It suspended me in the air and knocked me out." Chiron continued.

Chakwas stepped forward, "Not to interrupt Captain but, while you were knocked out, Chiron, you were showing abnormally high brain patterns and rapid eye movement, both signs commonly associated with dreams."

Chiron looked down at his feet, shifting nervously, "It was nothing Doc, just a nightmare."

Captain Anderson shook his head, "No, it wasn't nothing Wraith, that artifact was Prothean in origin, we don't know what information it may have put in your head."

Chiron sighed, "Fine" he relented, "I saw what looked like synthetics tearing people to pieces."

"Also sir, we found Nihlus, he had apparently be shot in the back by a Turian named, Saren." Chiron reported.

Anderson looked up in shock, "Saren?" he said in surprise, "hmmm, anything else soldier?"

Chiron shook his head, "That's everything Sir," he said, "If I may, what happened to the soldier we picked up?"

"We are going to be keeping Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, on staff for now, Wraith." he responded, "her testing scores are exemplarily and we could use another soldier on staff, after Jenkins's death."

"So what are we doing next sir?" Chiron asked.

"**We**, will be heading to the Citadel to report Saren to the Council and see if we can get them to help us track him down." Anderson said, "You, however, will be staying here to rest up Wraith."

Chiron was about to object before Anderson interrupted, "We still don't know what affects the artifact may have had on you, so until further notice, you shall be in Doctor Chakwas's care." he said while motioning towards Chakwas, "Doctor, you have permission to sedate the patient when necessary."

Chakwas laughed, "Captain, in all the years you have know me, what gave you the impression that I needed permission?" she asked.

Kayla grimaced at the memory of previous escape attempts from Chakwas as she heard Joker come over the com, "Sir, we are docking with the Citadel now."

Anderson nodded, "Roger that Joker." he said, "Commander, grab the ground team from Eden Prime and meet me at the Imperial Embassy."

Kayla nodded and left the med bay to inform Kaiden Alenko and Ashley Williams that they would be joining the shore party.

**Citadel**

_Imperial Embassy_

As Kayla walked into the Ambassador's office, she could see him arguing with what appeared to be the councilors, "We are sorry ambassador, but we are already conducting an investigation into Saren's activities." said the Asari counselor.

"That is not good enough" shouted the ambassador, "I demand action!"

"You do not get to make demands of the Council, ambassador." replied the Turian counselor with disgust.

"We will discuss the results of the investigation at the trial ambassador," spoke the Salarian councilor, "but not before."

As the councilors disappeared, the ambassador turned his attention towards Kayla, "I see you brought your entire crew here Anderson." he said.

Anderson shook his head, "Just the ground team from Eden Prime."

"Yes, well, unless we can get some more evidence against Saren, then I doubt the Council's investigation will turn up anything." said the Ambassador.

Anderson nodded, "I hate to say it, but Udina is right." Anderson said, "Kayla, I want you to go to a Volus named Barla Von, here in the Presidium."

"Intelligence says that he is an agent of the Shadow Broker," Anderson continued, "Maybe he will have some solid evidence that we can use against Saren."

Kayla saluted, "Yes sir!" she said, "but sir, will the Council just let us wander around the Citadel, I mean we may not be at war anymore but, were not exactly friends."

Anderson nodded, "I understand your concern Commander, but we have been granted special permissions here, due to the circumstances." he explained, "but, even if we didn't, you could blend in around here, there have been a number of humans that have abandoned the Empire, in favor of the Citadel's safety."

Anderson barked out a short laugh, "Hell, they even have a few in C-Sec."

Kayla nodded and turned to her team, "All right soldiers, you heard to Captain." she said, "we are off to go on a wild goose chase for a Volus."

As they walked out of the embassy building they came across a VI terminal, "Hello and thank you for using Avina." said the VI, "How may I be of assistance today?"

Kayla looked at the VI for a second, "huh, this might be easier then I thought." she mumbled to her team, "Avina, could you help me find a Volus named, Barla Von?"

"One moment, while I check Citadel Archives for relevant information." replied Avina, "Good news, it would seem that the banker known as, Barla Von, is currently in office just across the bridge from you present location, is there anything else, that I can help you with?"

Kayla shook her head, "No that would be everything, thank you Avina."

Avina nodded, "Very well, have a nice day."

As Kayla and her squad walked down the bridge she could hear Kaiden and Ashley talking between each other, "Damn, Ash, this place is huge." Kaiden said, "It makes Arcturus Station look like a hut."

"I still think they are just trying to overcompensate." replied Ashley.

Kayla glanced back at the two of them, "Can the chatter you two, we are at Barla Von's office."

As they walked through the doors, they saw a Volus get up and come greet them, "Ah, hzzt, Commander Shepard," he wheezed, "hzzt, I was wondering when you would arrive."

Kayla looked down at the Volus in shock, "You knew I was coming?"

"Of course Commander, hzzt, just as you know that I, hzzt, work for the Shadow Broker." he replied.

"Wow, today is going pretty easily," she mumbled, "Anyways, if you know about that, then you must know why I am here."

Barla Von nodded his head, "Yes, Commander, hzzt, our agents have managed to track the C-Sec officer in charge of the, hzzt, investigation to a Doctor Michel's clinic down in the Wards."

"Thank you Mr. Von, I suppose you will be wanting payment?" Kayla asked.

Barla Von shook his head, "Normally, yes, hzzt, but not this time Commander" he replied, "Saren crossed the Shadow broker, hzzt, if there is anything else you need, hzzt, over the course of your investigation, then please, hzzt, do not hesitate to ask."

Kayla nodded and left to get directions from a nearby Avina terminal.

**Citadel**

_The Wards_

"Commander, do you think we can really trust that Volus?" Ashley asked as they neared the Doctor's clinic.

Kayla shook her head, "Not at all, Ash" she replied, "But he is the only lead we have so far."

As they entered the clinic they saw a Turian in C-Sec armor crouched against a wall and could hear some men talking, "That's right Doc, and you will remember that you didn't see anything if Garrus comes around." said the voice.

Kayla and her squad unsheathed their knives and activated their stealth equipment. As they silently walked around the Turian, Kayla signaled Kaiden and Ashley to take up a positions around thugs in the back of the room. Kayla attempted get in position behind the thug holding the doctor, but before she could the Turian jumped out from behind the corner and shot the man in the head, "Damn." she muttered as she signaled her squad to strike.

Kayla smiled as she notice the Turian's brow plates go up in shock as the men he was about to fire on fell limp to the floor and two soldiers, wearing Imperial uniforms appeared out of nowhere.

As the Turian was about to take aim at the two new soldiers, he felt cold steel press up against his throat, "Now, now, is that any way to treat the people who just helped you save a person's life?" Kayla whispered in what she thought was his ear.

The Turian sighed before he lowered his gun, "What are Imperial soldiers doing here?" he asked.

Kayla shrugged as she sheathed her knife, "Oh, seeing the sights, visiting some... friends, and looking for evidence against rogue Spectres." she replied.

The Turian nodded, "Good, I'm the officer in charge of the investigation, you can call me Garrus." he said, "Doctor Michel here treated a Quarian who may have some interesting information."

Kayla looked over at the Doctor, "Ye... yes, she was injured by some assassin." said Michel, "While I was patching her up, she said she had information that she was willing to trade for safety, I pointed her to a man named Fist, he works for the Shadow Broker."

Garrus shook his head, "Not anymore, he broke his ties with the Broker and decided to work for Saren now."

Michel gasped in shock, "Fist betrayed the Shadow broker?" she exclaimed, "That's insane."

Kayla chuckled, "Alright then, Ash, run back to the Embassy and update the Anderson of the situation." she said and turned to address Garrus, "Now, can you lead us to Fist?"

Garrus nodded his head, "Follow me."

**Citadel**

_Chora's Den_

As they entered the walkway leading to Fist's club they see a pair of armed Turians heading their way, "I knew this was getting too easy." Kayla grumbled as she dove under cover when the Turians began to open fire.

Garrus pulled out his sniper rifle and took out one of the assassin's with a well placed shot, "Look's like we're on the right trail at least." he said

Kayla took aim and shot the other Turian in the leg, allowing Kaiden to finish him off with a Warp.

Garrus looked over at Kaiden, "So, your a biotic?"

Kaiden nodded, "Ya, most humans are nowadays, though only a few are of particular skill." he explained.

Garrus nodded nervously as they continued on into Chora's Den.

"Millions of years and thousands of light years away from where humanity began, and we walk into a strip club filled with women shaking their rears." Kayla grunted, "I'm not sure whether I should laugh or cry."

As they walked through, they overheard a couple Krogan talking, "Look Wrex, if you keep harassing us, we will call C-Sec in here." One of them said. The Krogan in red armor glared at him, "I'm going to kill Fist and there is no way that pyjaks like you or C-Sec are going to stop me."

Wrex turned around and made to leave before bumping into Kayla, "Out of my way human, your not my target today." he grunted.

Kayla stopped him, "Whoa there big guy." she said, "If you're after Fist, then I think we can help each other out."

Wrex looked at her with surprise, "Very well human, let me hear your plan and I'll decide if I can agree with it."

Kayla smiled, "Alright, I want you to charge that other Krogan and get him out of the way, while you do that, Garrus will hack the door and Kaiden and myself will provide covering fire as needed." she explained.

Wrex nodded, "Good plan." he said.

Kayla clapped, "Excellent, then only one outstanding issue," she said, "Wrex, we need to talk to Fist before you kill him."

Wrex nodded, "Not a problem, so long as I get my kill."

As Kayla brought her plan to action, Wrex was able to take down the Krogan in a matter of seconds, however about seventy-five percent of the club had began opening fire against them. Kayla and Kaiden provided covering fire for Garrus, taking out a decent number of the random thugs as Wrex charged into the melee scattering or killing anyone foolish enough to stay near a charging Krogan.

"Got it!" Garrus shouted as the door opened.

The four of them walked into Fist's office and found the man standing at his desk with a pair of automated turrets beginning to fire at them, "You didn't think I wouldn't be ready for the Broker's hit men did you?" Fist questioned.

Kayla tried to take aim on one of the turret's but had to take cover before she had a chance, "Kaiden, can you get a shot off?" she asked.

"No, Ma'am, they shoot at me before I can get a clear target." Kaiden replies.

Kayla sighed, "Alright plan B." she says and smiles towards him.

"Geronimo." Kayla muttered as she activated her stealth gear. Kayla walked out of cover and was relieved that the turrets didn't fire at her. She quickly made her way past the turrets and behind Fist.

Kayla drew her knife and placed it against Fist's throat as she disengaged her stealth system, "Shut down the turrets or I bring down my knife." She said to Fist.

Fist glanced back in terror, "A..alright, I'm turning them off now." he said as he pressed a button and the turrets powered down.

Garrus, Kaiden, and Wrex came out from cover, "Damn, you've got a quad human, not many willing to test a stealth system against live auto turrets." Wrex grunted.

Kayla grinned and addressed Fist, "Now, Fist, I hear a Quarian came through here, where did the Quarian go?"

"I don't know about any Quarian coming through here." Fist replied.

Kayla shook her head, "Wrong answer fist." she said as she pulled out her gun and pointed it at his head, "The truth or you die."

Fist looked up at Kayla in fear, "Alright, alright, she came in here earlier, but said she would only trade the information with the Broker directly."

Wrex shook his head, "Impossible, nobody meets the Broker, even I was hired through an agent."

Fist nodded, "Ya, I told her that he would meet her in an alley, if you hurry, you might catch up to her before Saren's men."

Fist smiled at the shocked look on Kayla's face, but before anyone could say anything else, Wrex shot Fist with his shotgun, "There my contract is finished."

Kayla nodded her head, "Alright, let's hurry to the alley and see if we can't save ourselves a Quarian girl." she said.

"Chiron is going to love this." Kayla muttered to herself as they left.

**Citadel**

_Wards Alley_

As the team headed into the alley they saw a Quarian female surrounded by a couple Salarians and a Turian who was a little too close for Kayla's liking.

"Garrus take out that Turian if you see the shot, Kaiden and Wrex provide covering fire, if those Salarians become an issue." Kayla ordered.

Just as everyone got into position, they saw the Quarian jump away from the Turian and throw an explosive at the Salarians, killing them both and before the Turian could fire on her, Garrus was able to take him out.

"We'll another easy job." Kayla said as she walked up to the Quarian, "Are you alright?"

The Quarian nodded, "Ya, it seems Fist betrayed me." she said, "Who do I have to thank for my rescue?"

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Imperial Military." Kayla replied.

The Quarian appeared to be surprised, "The Empire? Then perhaps I can repay my debt, I have an audio tape you might find useful in finding the culprit behind the Eden Prime attack." she said.

As Kayla was about to respond a message popped up on her Omni-tool, "Hearing about to start, hurry up with you evidence. -Anderson"

"Well, Ms.?" Kayla asked.

"Tali'Zorah Nar Raya" replied the Quarian, "Just call me Tali."

"Well Tali, if you would follow me, we could present this information at the hearing, together." Kayla said

**Citadel**

_Council Chambers_

"Eden Prime was a major victory." Saren's disembodied voice said.

"Yes, with this victory we are close to finding the Conduit and one step closer to releasing the Reapers." said another voice.

The Turian councilor growled, "This evidence is indisputable, Saren is a disgrace and I move that he be removed from the Spectres."

The Asari councilor nodded, "Yes, the other voice I recognize." she said, "It's Matriarch Beneziah."

"Another traitor then." Udina said.

"Matriarchs are the most respected and wise of the Asari" the Asari councilor said, "If she is working with Saren, she must have a good reason."

"I'm more interested in these Reapers and the Conduit." mentioned the Salarian councilor.

"A legend, nothing more, Saren is trying to distract us from our true goal." the Turian councilor responded.

"I demand that you send you fleet after Saren." said Udina.

"A fleet after one man, even a former Spectre is a bit excessive, Ambassador." replied the Asari councilor, "Not to mention that it might start a war with the Terminus, our reports, have Saren out near the Traverse."

"Well, you cant just sit there doing nothing!" shouted Udina.

The Asari councilor nodded, "Your right, for once, we can't. I propose a joint effort." The councilor said.

"We have heard reports that you have a new stealth craft, up and running, it would be ideal for this situation." Continued the Salarian councilor.

"With your Empire's permission we would like to assist by sending soldiers with you, soldiers that know how Spectre's operate." Said the Asari councilor.

"Operatives, who will provide us with reliable Intel on the situation." Continued the Turian councilor.

"An operative who has been forged in the flames of battle and tested through numerous operations." Finished the Salarian councilor.

The Asari councilor appeared to be looking at something standing behind Kayla, "Tela Vasir, step forward." she said.

An Asari in blue and white armor came up behind Kayla and kneeled before the Council, "Due you accept this mission?" They asked

"I do." Vasir replied.

"Then, if the ambassador here accepts, you shall join the Normandy's crew and follow it's CO's orders as if they were our own." the Asari councilor said as Vasir saluted.

"I suppose this will have to do." Udina said, "Commander, meet me and Anderson down in the Docking Bay with your new allies, we still have a few things to discuss before you start on this new mission."

Kayla nodded and turned to leave, flanked by Garrus, Kaiden, Tali, Wrex, and Tela Vasir, "Alright, this will probably be fun to explain to the crew." she muttered to herself.

* * *

_A/N ok end note here, I felt the need to alter the Council's Spectre speech and give them a bit more of a formal ceremony when giving Spectres important missions._

_ Chain- Collectors, always a fun idea, I will say that there is a plan for them that differs from the game and that the humans do not possess the tech to free them from Reaper control (partly because I'm not so sure it was something the Protheans would have been able to do), However, who knows what will happen to these delectable creatures._


	7. Normandy & Feros

_A/N I just wanted to quickly say thank you to people who have been reviewing my story since I started, always nice to get the support and criticism from those (even if they are terrifying to have show up in the email from time to time)._

* * *

**Citadel**

_C-Sec Academy_

Kayla looked around at the group around her, "Ok, were not all going to fit in this elevator at once so, Vasir and Garrus, would you two be so kind as to escort me down to the docking bay?" she asked.

Kaiden looked at Kayla in shock, "Are you sure that's wise Commander?" he began to ask as she narrowed her eyes towards him, "I mean, the Krogan is one thing, but Turians and Asari are full fledged council races and one of them is a Spectre, can you really trust them to not do anything when your on your own?"

Kayla shook her head, "That is what I intend to find out Major." she replied, "As for the rest of you, we will wait at the elevator before we meet Anderson and Udina."

With that; Kayla, Vasir, and Garrus entered the elevator. As it slowly descended, Kayla faced her new companions, "So, why do you two want to get at Saren?" she asked.

"As you heard Sparatus say, he is a disgrace to the Turians and a murderer, I want to see justice done." Garrus answered with conviction.

Vasir shrugged, "I'm not as idealistic as the Turian here but, fundamentally, I was ordered" she said, "Personally, I was curious and that is all you will get for my reasons for now."

As the elevator came to a stop Kayla and her companions stepped off the elevator and waited for everyone else, "Also I trust neither of you will have a problem working with an Imperial/Quarian crew or taking orders from either an Imperial Commander or Wraith?" she questioned.

Vasir raised a brow, "A Wraith huh?" she muttered, "Interesting."

Garrus shrugged, "So long as I can catch the bad guys, I'll follow whatever orders you have Shepard."

Vasir nodded, "If your orders are good and don't make me betray the Council, then I will follow your lead, Commander."

Kayla nodded in understanding as the rest of her new crewmates came out from the elevator. They made there way over to the docking tube attached to the Normandy and found Udina and Anderson awaiting them.

Udina walked up to Kayla, "Congratulations are in order Commander." he said, "High Command has decided that we need a higher ranked soldier to stay on the Citadel to co-ordinate between the Council and the Normandy."

Anderson nodded, "To that end, I will be staying behind" he said, "The Normandy and her crew are now yours to command as you see fit Commander."

Kayla gaped at Anderson in shock for a moment, "Umm, sir, not to be ungrateful but are you sure about this?"

Anderson shook his head, "This isn't how I wanted my career to go, a damn desk job," he complained, "But it is what the Empire needs and that is what matters, just make sure to stop Saren and it will all be worth it soldier."

Kayla saluted Anderson, "Sir, yes sir!"

Kayla signaled for her new crewmates to head into the Normandy, with Kaiden leading them so as not to cause a panic, "Try not to cause me too many political headaches, Commander." she heard Udina say.

Kayla turned her head towards Udina, "No promises, ambassador." she replied as she headed into the Normandy.

**Normandy**

Chiron approached Doctor Chakwas, "Come on Doc, can't I at least wonder the ship now?" he asked, "The Commander should be back sometime soon and I want to know what our next step is."

Chakwas thought to herself for a moment before nodding, "Very well, but if you have any issues come here right away." she said.

Chiron all but ran out of the med bay and began to head up the stairs to the CIC. As he was heading up however, he nearly ran into a large Krogan in red armor. As he stepped aside to allow the Krogan to pass, he noticed several other aliens following the Krogan down to the engineering and storage sections of the Normandy. Most notably was an Asari with the Spectre symbol on her shoulder.

As Vasir noticed the Wraith uniform the man was wearing, neither of them allowed the other out of their sight until Vasir was in the elevator.

Chiron, continued up the stair to the CIC, intent on finding Kayla. As he arrived at the Galaxy map, he heard her over the intercom, "Anderson has transferred this ship to my command, anyone who has a problem with that, should leave now." she began, "Those who wish to stay, know this, we are about to undertake the most important mission any of us have ever taken before."

"Saren is a threat, not only to the Empire but to the Galaxy as a whole, to that end, the Council has sent the aid of one of it's Spectres in tracking and killing this rogue operative, as well as a Turian who volunteered to help us hunt down Saren." she said, "The Empire must show that we are willing to put aside petty differences for the greater good of the Galaxy and as such, I expect every soldier on this vessel, to treat each other with the respect that their rank and skill deserve, that is all." Kayla finished as Chiron came up behind her.

"You always were one for dramatic speeches Commander." he muttered

Kayla chuckled, "If it works, it works."

Chiron shook his head slowly, "Anyways, please tell me that you have people keeping an eye on the Spectre at least." he said.

Kayla sighed, "Did you not here the speech Chiron?" she replied, "We are going to give these allies a chance, until they prove that they are unreliable."

Chiron shrugged, "If you say so Commander." he said, "What is our next move?"

Kayla began to move towards the Galaxy Map, "We have information that our colony on Feros is under Geth attack." she said as some of the Quarian members of the crew flinched at the word Geth, "We should head there and try to save who we can."

Chiron nodded, "Very well, I'll go visit our new guests to see how they are acclimating then." he said, "You know, work on my social skills."

Chiron gave Kayla a slight grin as he headed down to the Engineering and storage sections. As Chiron exited the elevator he headed for the Krogan standing near the weapons lockers, "Name?" he asked.

The Krogan looked at him for a moment, "Wrex." he replied.

Chiron looked him up and down, "Why?" he asked.

"I sense some tough fights coming your way, should be fun." Wrex replied.

"Simple, I like it." Chiron replied as he walked over towards the Turian admiring the Mako.

"Think you could improve it?" he asked the Turian.

The Turian kept staring intently at the Mako, "Hmm, perhaps if we could update the suspensions and of course the gun would need cali.." The Turian stopped as he noticed who was asking the question, "Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it but, if you all wouldn't mind, I could definitely make a few improvements to this beauty."

Chiron shrugged, "As long as you run everything by the Commander I don't have a problem with it." he said.

Garrus sighed in relief as he stuck out his hand, "Garrus Vakarian."

Chiron stared at the hand for a moment before awkwardly shaking it, "Chiron." he replied as he turned to greet another member. As he looked around he noticed the Asari standing in a shadowed corner, staring at him. He gave a discreet nod in her direction before heading into engineering.

As he entered engineering, he spotted the young Quarian he saw earlier working at one of the consoles, "Always good to have another Quarian on board," he said to her as he came up from behind.

The Quarian jumped in surprise before calming her self down, "Oh, um, ya it is nice to be on a ship this advanced." she said, "I was actually kind of surprised that there were so many Quarian's working on board the Normandy."

Chiron nodded, "Normally, there probably wouldn't be, but this ship was co-designed with the Migrant Fleet and your Admiralty wanted some Quarians on board to monitor how it runs during normal missions."

"Keelah, I didn't realize that rumor was actually true." the Quarian murmured, "I thought it was just wishful thinking for the most part, we haven't been on friendly terms with other races in a very long time."

Chiron nodded, "Indeed, it is a shame really, Quarians are brilliant engineers, but hey, where the Citadel loses and ally we gain one." he smiled towards her, "So what do we call you then."

"Call me Tali." she said.

"Chiron." Chiron responded, as he turned to walk out he heard Kayla over the intercom, "We will be landing at Feros in fifteen minutes, this is your show Chiron so pick your team and get ready to head out."

Chiron sighed, "Hey, Tali, you up for some Geth killing?"

Tali nodded, "Always."

Chiron smiled, "Great now, I should probably take the Spectre, so that she isn't left alone on the ship." he muttered to himself.

"Good to know you think so highly of me Wraith." he heard the Asari say from behind.

Chiron sighed as he turned to address her, "Alright, we have a mission to do, you up for completing it, Spectre?"

Vasir shrugged, "Sure, I'm getting bored just standing around." she replied, "And by the way, my name is Tela Vasir, try using it sometime."

**Feros**

_Docking Port_

"Hmm, I'm not seeing any docking authorities here." Vasir noted.

Chiron nodded, "Yes, that's not a good sign, let's hope that we are here in time."

As they walked down the walkway they were stopped by a colonist, "Are... are you here to kill the Geth?" he asked. Before they could answer the man was shot by a sniper round as a group of Geth appeared, "Take cover and fire when you have a clear opening." Chiron ordered.

Vasir and Tali began to take pot shots at the Geth. Chiron aimed a singularity at the group of Geth on the left. As he began picking off the suspended Geth he noticed Vasir stand up as her biotics flared. Before he could say anything, she had charged the Geth on the right with an explosive burst of biotic energy, killing the first Geth instantly and stunning the other two long enough for her to shoot the heads off of with her shotgun.

"Not a bad trick Vasir." Chiron complimented.

Vasir muttered a, "Thanks" as they headed further towards the colony.

As they approached a room with what looked to be stairs, leading up and out of the Port, they noticed their radar systems being scrambled.

"Geth Hoppers!" Tali shouted as one of the agile synthetics appeared on a nearby wall.

"Hack one of them Tali, let's see if we can get these things to slow down for a bit." Chiron ordered.

Tali quickly typed in a program to override the Geth's control systems allowing her limited access to the Geth's systems. She had it begin targeting the other Hopper in the room and had it shoot it down from behind. Afterwards she had it land in front of them just as she lost control.

Before it could leap away from them, Chiron shot it in it's optics center with his pistol, "Good job Tali."

The squad continued up the stair case, as they reached the top they found themselves looking out towards what remained of the colony.

"Stop right there" said a soldier from behind a barricade.

Chiron stepped forward, "I am Wraith Chiron, in the Emperor's name I demand passage for myself and my compatriots."

The soldier stepped up and saluted, "Of..ofcourse sir, I meant no disrespect." she said, "Please we need your help sir, if we lose to many more people, we wont be able to defend this colony anymore."

Chiron nodded, "Who's the leader here?" he asked.

The soldier looked momentarily confused, "I... I suppose that would be Fai Dan, you can find him at the front of the colony, preparing for the next wave of Geth attackers."

Chiron and his squad nodded and headed towards where Fai Dan was holed up.

The group finally reached Fai Dan, as Chiron stepped forward he addressed the colony's leader, "Fai Dan?" he asked.

Fai Dan nodded, "Yes, are you here to help us fight off the Geth?"

Chiron nodded, "Do you know why they are here?"

The woman standing next to Fai Dan spoke up, "You see Dan, they are only here to help themselves not us."

Fai Dan glared at the woman for a moment before turning back to Chiron, "Ignore her Commander, we will take any help we can get." he said, "but to answer your question, no, we have no idea as to why they would be here."

"We also can't afford to speculate right now, there is a Geth strike force coming any second now." Fai Dan said, "Please, if you head through the corridor ahead of us, you should be able to stop them before they can attack the colony."

Chiron sighed before nodding, "Very well, lets move out to take some of the pressure off of the colony." he ordered.

As the squad moved forward through the corridor, they met some Geth resistance, following the troopers to a garage like clearing. They killed the Geth in the immediate area but as they began looking around, they heard more Geth dropping from above, "Drop ship!" Tali shouted as it began to move away towards a large building in the distance.

As the squad finished off the last of the Geth, Chiron kicked one of the dead Geth, "I suppose we should return to tell Fai Dan that the immediate threat is gone and maybe find out more about why the Geth would want to come here." Chiron said

Tali and Vasir nodded as the three of them headed out towards the colony.

* * *

_A/N Alright so the Normandy portion took longer than I intended, I'll try to release the second part of Feros tomorrow, if possible._


	8. Thorian

A/N And here is part two of Feros, I hope you all enjoy it.

* * *

**Feros**

_Zhu's Hope_

"Look, I'm grateful that you helped us, but I don't know why the Geth would attack." Fai Dan said.

Chiron rubbed his temple, "Fine, if there is nothing here that you can think the Geth would be interested in, then why is the colony here in the first place?"

"Well, a company called ExoGeni set us up here, in an attempt to try and find potential Prothean artifacts on the planet." said Fai Dan as Chiron began to narrow his eyes, "Bu.. but they never told us of any findings."

Chiron sighed, "Very well, where is the ExoGeni facility?" he asked, "Maybe they have something hidden there that the Geth would want."

"It's down the elevator in the corridor you came from and down the Skyway, there should be a Mako in the garage that you could use." Fai Dan answered, "But we could still use some help gathering food, water, power, and tracking the remnants of the Geth down in the tunnels."

Chiron began to contact the Normandy, "Ground team to Normandy." he said as Joker came in over the comm.

"This is Normandy, how is Gethville?" Joker replied.

"Not the time Flight Lieutenant, I need you to send Barras and a squad of Commandos to the colony, so that they can take care of some issues in the tunnels, while we continue with the mission." Chiron said, "And relay the message to the Commander so she knows that we are borrowing some of the security force."

"Right away." replied Joker.

Chiron turned towards Fai Dan, "Alright, a Batarian named Barras, will be meeting with you shortly to deal with these issues, if there are any problems, he will comm. us and we will try to get back here."

Fai Dan nodded as Chiron's squad headed off to the Skyway. As they exited the elevator, they saw a couple of colonist guards take out a drone that had wondered into the garage. Chiron entered the Mako and took up the wheel, while Tali monitored the systems, and Vasir manned the gun.

As the Mako made it's way down the Skyway, they encountered heavy Geth resistance, but the Mako's gun was able to take out most of the opposition with little effort.

As the Mako hit the fourth bump on the road that made it jump in the air at an unusual angle, Vasir decided to speak up, "Alright Chiron, did you ever learn how to drive this damn thing?"

Chiron shrugged, "Not really, but it makes a good scare tactic." he suggested, "I mean who wouldn't be terrified of a screaming hunk of metal chaotically flying towards them while shooting a large gun, every which way."

Tali chuckled, "That depends, is the screaming coming from inside of the said hunk of metal."

Chiron turned around the grin at Tali, "Hey a good scare tactic, is a good scare tactic."

"Eyes, road Wraith, eyes, road." Vasir all but shouted before grunting to herself, "Note, never get into a vehicle with insane Wraiths again."

Chiron chuckled while turning back towards the road, "As if the, if it moves, blow it up Specres, are any saner." he replied.

Tali looked at the two of them in confusion, "I can't tell if you two hate each other, or like each other." she mumbled.

Chiron shrugged, "Don't worry about it, just some historical rivalry between our organizations." he explained, "dates back to the Wraiths foundation where we entered into a Cold War type situation against the Spectres, I can explain more later if you would like."

Tali nodded as they began to get a transmission from a nearby camp, "Can anyone here me out there?" the voice asked, "We need he... would you get off that damn comm. the Geth could be listening in!" another voice cut in.

Chiron brought the Mako to a stop in front of a ramp leading down into where the transmission came from.

As the squad walked down the ramp, they found themselves with a gun pointed at them, "S..stop right there, this is ExoGeni private property." stated a man in a business uniform.

Chiron raised an eyebrow at the man as his biotics flared, "I don't appreciate a gun being pointed at me" he began, "Because you are an Imperial citizen, I will give you three seconds to drop the weapon and forget it was drawn, otherwise you and everyone with you will die."

"Would you put that damn gun down Jeong!" shouted a woman coming up beside him, "Can't you see he is a Wraith, his authority supersedes the corporations."

Jeong paled in fear and quickly dropped his gun, "I...I'm sorry Wraith."

Chiron nodded and allowed his biotics to die down, "So what was with the distress call?" he asked.

The woman stepped forward, "That was me, sir, with the colony dead, I was hoping we could signal for rescue and get my daughter out of the headquarters building so we could leave."

Chiron looked at her in confusion as Barras came in over his comm, "Sir." said the Batarian, "we encountered light Geth resistance but we have turned on the water pipes, and killed an alpha Varren." He reported.

"However the colonists are acting strangely, whenever questioned about the colony, they point us towards Fai Dan, who tells us next to nothing, and there is a man down here in the tunnels, who is speaking of some kind of presence in his head." Barras continued.

Chiron nodded as Jeong began to shift uncomfortably at the mention of the colonists, "Alright, keep an eye on them and retreat to the ship if things get hairy." he ordered.

"Roger that, Wraith." Barras responded, "We are obtaining some power cells now and heading to destroy a Geth transmitter, we will head back once we are finished, over and out."

"Damn it Jeong, you said that they were dead." said the woman.

"I.. I said that they were likely dead." Jeong weakly replied.

"As charming as this argument is, could we please return to the mission." Vasir cut in.

Chiron nodded, "Yes, Ms. if we find your daughter we will try to return her here, until then bunker down and wait for us to come back."

As the two civilians nodded the squad headed back to the Mako and made their way to the ExoGeni headquarters.

The squad walked around the entry garage of the ExoGeni headquarters building, but found that the only direct access location was blocked by some sort of Geth shielding. Chiron and his squad walked over to what appeared to be a tunnel in the ground near the door, "We wont be able to climb back up this way." Tali muttered.

Chiron shrugged, "Perhaps, but it's the only entrance we have." he said as he jumped down.

The squad made it's way out of the tunnel but as they exited, Chiron heard a weapon fire and felt an impact in his barrier, followed by a small scream of shock, "I'm so sorry, I thought you were a Geth." said the female voice.

Chiron sighed and mumbled to himself, "What is with survivors on this planet and guns."

He turned to look at the woman, "You wouldn't happen to know what they Geth want here would you?"

The woman thought for a moment before seeming to come to a conclusion, "I.. I think it is the Thorian." she stated, "It's a plant based species we discovered on the planet with some kind of mind controlling spores."

"Hmm, interesting" Vasir noted, "I could see why Saren might want such a creature."

Chiron nodded, "Do you know where it is?" Chiron asked.

The woman nodded nervously, "Yes, it's under Zhu's Hope, ExoGeni was using the colonists as test subjects." she said.

"What?!" the squad shouted in unison.

Chiron growled before attempting to contact the Normandy and Barras, but all he got was static, "Damn, the Geth must be blocking our signals."

"I saw the Geth ship latched onto the building from outside, if we could detach one of it's legs, it might topple down, letting us get through the shielding and contact the Normandy." Tali said.

Chiron nodded, "Good idea." he said before turning towards the woman, "What about you?" he asked.

"I'll stay here and try to find us another way out." She responded as she handed him a card, "Here take my I.D. card, maybe it will be of use."

Chiron nodded, taking the card and led his squad to a nearby staircase. As they reached the top of the stairs, they heard a Krogan shouting, "Stupid machine, tell me about the Thorian!"

As they came into view, the Krogan spotted them and began to charge. Chiron and his squad jumped out of the way and began to fire at the Krogan as he passed by. Chiron used his biotics to try and lift the Krogan off the ground as Vasir used her own to try and throw him. As the two attacks hit the Krogan, he was torn apart by an explosion of biotic energy, "Interesting." Chiron muttered, glancing over towards Vasir who was just as surprised.

Chiron approached the terminal that the Krogan was attempting to use, "As a reminder to all employees, the discharging of weapons is forbidden on the premises." said the V.I, "Welcome back, Lizbeth Baynham, how may I be of assistance?"

"It must have a scanner for I.D cards." muttered Tali.

Chiron nodded before addressing the V.I, "What information was the previous user attempting to obtain?"

"The previous user, was attempting to obtain information on species 341, the Thorian." it said, "Other than lacking proper access, there is no new knowledge on species 341 to share."

"Well, at least Saren didn't get any more information." Chiron muttered as they continued on towards the Geth ship.

They reached another room and found Geth surrounding a glowing orb, contained in a metal claw and they appeared to be worshiping it. The squad managed to swiftly eliminate the kneeling Geth before they could respond.

"Do the Geth even do religion?" Chiron asked Tali.

Tali slowly shook her head, "It's possible the Geth have begun to question their place in existence and have chosen to worship something, I suppose." Tali offered, "But we know so little of how they changed since they forced the Quarians into exile."

Chiron nodded as they walked into what appeared to be an ExoGeni data hub, they began to clear the room of Geth and found an arm that was stuck in between a shutter, "Tali, do you think we could use this to remove the arm?" Vasir asked.

Tali nodded, "If we can raise the psi to a sufficient level, then it should be able to cut off the arm when the shutter closes."

Chiron grinned, "Then it is a good thing we brought a brilliant engineer with us." he said, "You work on that and Vasir and I will look around through some of these terminals."

Chiron searched through the emails on one of the terminals until he found one labeled Cerberus. As he read it, he learned that ExoGeni was being funded by Cerberus to conduct research on the Thorian.

"It's done Chiron" Tali said as shutter slammed shut on the leg, cutting it apart, "If we have time, I'd like to get some data from the Geth terminals, it could prove useful."

Chiron nodded and attempted to contact the Normandy, "Joker can you read me?"

"Finally, Wraith been trying to contact you." Joker replied, "The colonists just started going crazy, Barras got most of the men back safely but one fell behind and was torn apart by them."

"Damn." Chiron responded, "We're on our way Joker, keep the Normandy sealed and don't let anyone in."

"Got the date Chiron." Tali shouted.

"Good, we can analyze it later let's head back out." Chiron responded.

The squad met Lizbeth just outside of the door to the garage, "The shields are down Wraith, lets get out of here quickly." she said.

Chiron drove the Mako back down the Skyway towards Zhu's Hope. As they neared the outpost outside of ExoGeni, they picked up a transmission, "You can't do that Jeong!" said the female voice, "I said get away from the transmitter!" said Jeong

Chiron heard a shout from behind him, "Mother!" Lizbeth shouted as she tried to get out of the Mako. Chiron stopped the Mako and opened it up, following Lizbeth to the outpost.

"Making trouble again Jeong." he asked.

Jeong looked at him in fear, "Look, the company has put out a scorched earth policy, we wont be able to recoup our losses here."

The woman glared at him, "You can't just kill innocent people Jeong!"

Chiron glared at Jeong, "I know what ExoGeni was doing to the colony Jeong." he informed, "I'll take care of the colonists, but ExoGeni will be assisting the colony, afterwards to ensure that it can prosper."

Jeong was about to argue before he saw Chiron's biotics flare up, "U...understood." he said weakly.

Chiron nodded and headed back to the Mako to get to Zhu's Hope.

As the Mako entered Zhu's Hope's garage, they found themselves being fired on by the colonists, "Stasis fields only, if possible." Chiron ordered, "I want as few colonist fatalities as possible."

The squad made there way through the colony, killing only a couple colonists when they weren't able to use a stasis field on them.

"One of the terminals at ExoGeni, mentioned that the colonists had placed a freighter over the entrance to the Thorian," Vasir mentioned as she moved to some crane controls.

After Vasir moved the correct freighter out of the way the squad began to head down the stairs leading to the Thorian, but was stopped by Fai Dan, "I only wanted to protect the colony." Fai Dan said as he held up a gun, "But the voice is telling me to kill you... I.. wont... doo.." Fai Dan slowly brought the gun towards his own head.

Chiron noticed Tali turn her head as the trigger went off, "We will kill this thing." Chiron muttered.

The squad found itself at the bottom of the stairs facing a large plant like organism, suspending itself over a pit, "How do you suppose we kill it?" Vasir asked as the Thorian began to drip saliva and a figure came out of it.

The figure slowly stepped forward, revealing itself to be a green Asari in commando leathers, "The Old One knew the meats would send more to kill it." the Asari said, "You will all become slaves to the Old One!"

The Asari began to attack the squad with a mixture of biotics and shotgun shots. Chiron shot her in the head and saw her dissolve into a green paste, "Hmm, it seems to be suspended by nerve clusters in the wall, maybe if we sever those it will fall." Vasir suggested.

Chiron nodded and the squad began to head up the stair case towards the first nerve cluster. As they began to shoot the cluster, gray zombie like figures began to attack the squad. Chiron noted that, while numerous, they were relatively easy to take down.

While charging on towards the next few nerve clusters, they found themselves facing the green Asari again, "You will all die." she shouted before they managed to kill her again.

The squad repeated this pattern four more times, encountering the green Asari, all the way up to the final nerve cluster. As they severed the last cluster, the Thorian fell down into the pit and Tali threw in some explosives for good measure.

As they began to leave, the ran into the Asari from earlier, but this time she was purple instead of green, "Wait, please don't shoot!" she said.

"Who are you?" Chiron asked.

"My name is Shiala, I was a follower of Matriarch Beneziah until Saren gave me to the Thorian." she replied.

Chiron aimed his gun back at her head, "If you work for Saren, how can we trust you." he asked.

"I don't work for Saren anymore, and maybe I can help you." she said, "I can give you the information Saren was after."

Chiron began to slowly lower his aim, "What information?" he asked.

"Saren was looking for a Cipher that would help him interpret the information for Eden Prime's artifact, the Thorian had it and when I obtained it from the Thorian, I was able to transfer it to Saren." Shiala replied, "And as I could do for you."

Chiron looked at her in shock, "So it wasn't just a nightmare." he mumbled, "Fine give me the cipher."

"I will have to meld my mind with yours, the experience of an entire race, is the cipher and it can not simply be described." Shiala explained, "Relax human, close your eyes, feel the strings that bind all life throughout the galaxy, open yourself to the universe, Embrace Eternity!" Shiala shouted as her eyes turned black and she began to put the cipher into Chiron's mind.

Chiron felt a brief amount of pain in his head as the images from Eden Prime flashed in his skull again, but when Shiala was finished, he still didn't understand it.

"It may take some time for your mind to fully comprehend what it saw." Shiala said.

Chiron nodded as Vasir spoke up, "Shiala, do you know why Beneziah would betray the Council?"

Shiala nodded, "Beneziah wanted to try and guide Saren along a gentler path, but she underestimated him and his ship." she explained, "proximity to the ship, slowly changes people, I don't know, after a while, you begin to nearly worship Saren and do whatever you can to see his plans reach fruition."

Chiron frowned, "That doesn't sound good." he muttered, "What will you do now Shiala?" he asked.

Shiala looked down, "I would like to stay here and help the colony rebuild, as penance for the pain I caused." she said.

Chiron nodded as he and his squad began to leave, "Looks like this mission is done, we should report to Commander Shepard." he said.

Vasir nodded, "I would like to use your communication systems to contact the Council as well, they will want to know about the Thorian." she said.

Chiron nodded, "That can probably be arranged." he said as they walked back towards the Normandy.

* * *

A/N Alright I have decided that the next chapter or two will break away from the game slightly to deal with the Raloi, they aren't mentioned much and are rife for creative development in my eyes.


	9. Wont you walk into my parlor?

_A/N alright here it is, I hope people like what I have done with the Raloi and enjoy the story._

* * *

**Normandy**

Chiron and his squad met Kayla in the CIC to give their reports, "So, a giant mind controlling plant caused the colonists to go crazy and held a cipher that Saren used to understand a vision that the artifact gave him." Kayla said, "The same vision that you are saying was given to you Chiron?"

"Are you sure you haven't just lost it Chiron?" she asked.

Chiron shook his head, "Tali and Vasir can vouch for me, I wasn't the only one that saw the plant." he replied, "As for the vision, I don't know but I could really use some rest to try and figure this out."

Kayla nodded, "Very well, just file your report and hit the sleeping pod."

Chiron saluted and left as Vasir stepped forward, "Commander, I would like to ask your permission to use you comm. system to contact the Council and send in my report." she said.

Kayla nodded, "Permission granted, but I'll be sending Barras in with you, for obvious reasons."

Tali came up to Kayla next, "Umm, Commander, I was wondering" she began, "What happened between the Wraiths and the Spectres? Chiron said he would explain later, but I don't want to bother him while he is resting."

"Ah, yes, I was afraid that would come up." Kayla said, "Well, shortly after the end of the First Contact War, Emperor Saian revealed the Wraith organization."

"The Wraiths were meant to be the left hand of the Empire, as such, they were sent to probe Council defenses in the wake of the war." she continued, "Little did we know, that the Council had the same idea with their Spectres, it caused a bit of rivalry and one-upmanship between the groups, considering how feared they tend to be in both societies, I suppose it made a bit of sense."

Tali tilted her head in surprise, "It almost sounds like they were friends to each other, but they were working on the opposite sides, why wouldn't they develop hatred?" she asked.

Kayla chuckled, "Friendly, might be too strong of a word, but you have to understand, most of the missions from both sides, was largely sabotage and espionage, and while some deaths were inevitable, they were largely accidents, at least the Wraiths began to see it as a sort of game." she explained.

Tali nodded, "Thank you for explaining Commander, I'll get out of your way now." she said gratefully.

Kayla nodded and headed up to the Galaxy Map, but as she was about to plot a new destination, Joker's voice came on over the intercom, "Commander, message from Grand Marshall Hackett, patching him through." he said.

"Commander, the Empire has need of you, beyond your current mission." he said, "A few years back, we had reports of the Council making contact with a new species called the Raloi, however, their welcoming ceremony fell through when the species contracted an alien disease from one of the dignitaries, the virus was immediate with the first signs of infection being a paling of the feathers, sadly no one noticed until there were hundreds dead."

"Since then, our scientists had the opportunity to study the virus, they discovered that most species carry a form of the virus, though it is harmless to us, it is deadly to the Raloi, luckily we also discovered a way to make a vaccine." Hackett continued, "I would like you to be the one to get the vaccine from our diplomatic vessel in orbit in the Raloi system and deliver it to them, with the intent of inducting them into the Empire."

Kayla raised an eyebrow, "With all due respect sir, shouldn't this be a job for the diplomats, not myself?" she asked.

"Normally, Commander yes, but the Normandy is a symbol of co-operation between the Empire and non-affiliated races, it would be a good statement if we send it to try and induct new species." he explained, "As for you, Commander, you shouldn't sell yourself short, you proved how charismatic of an individual you can be when you rallied then entire colony of Elysium, which had previously been developing anti-imperial ideas, against a Terminus raiding fleet and turned it into one of our most loyal colonies in the Galaxy."

Kayla nodded slowly, "Very, well War Marshall, send me the co-ordinates of the diplomatic vessel and I will head there right away, for the Empire." Kayla said.

"For the Empire." repeated Hackett as he disconnected.

Kayla looked up towards the intercom, "You heard him Joker, punch in the co-ordinates and lets go make some friends."

"Aye, aye, Ma'am." replied Joker.

**Turvess**

_In orbit near the SSV Lethon_

Kayla met the diplomats in the conference room as her soldiers grabbed the cure for safety, "So, is there anything I should know before I head down there?" she asked.

The leading diplomat, Ambassador Preston, nodded his head, "The Raloi are an avian type race and, as such, they tend to exhibit some of the habits that birds on Earth do, so whatever you do, please don't stare." he said, "Also, it is important that you wear an environmental suit, as it is respectful to them while on their home planet, at least until they can be sure that we wont contaminate their species."

Kayla nodded, "What about translators?" she asked.

"They have leftovers from when the Council came here." the ambassador said, "Also I might recommend a show of strength, they are a predator race so they should be able to respect armed diplomats."

Kayla nodded, "Very well, if that is all ambassador, I will get the suits ready and head planet side, with a squad."

Kayla walked out of the room and to the intercom, "I want Tali and Wrex to meet me in the drop bay and Wrex, we are going to need to get you into a Krogan sized environment suit." she said.

**Turvess**

_Raloian Capital_

Kayla looked at her companions, while she was sitting in the shuttle waiting to land. Tali shifted nervously in her seat as she looked out the windows. Wrex was wearing a large makeshift environment suit and was glaring towards the door, seeming to expect some kind of trouble to come through it.

The shuttle finally came to a stop and Kayla moved towards the door, "Well, lets go meet our new friends." she said to Wrex and Tali as she opened the door.

As soon as the door opened Kayla got her first look at one of the Raloi. Kayla noticed that they would tower over most humans at around seven feet tall. Their mouths were, surprisingly, lacking beaks and more closely resembled Turian mouths. The one standing in front of her had bare talons at his feet and was covered in black feathers.

She also noticed that the Raloi around them appeared to be wearing a crystal like substance for armor that hung around the back of their waists, much like an old tail coat, flowed around their bare chests, and holding jagged weapons designed for their talon like hands, "Hmm, soldiers." Kayla muttered as she looked up towards the Raloi who stood in front of her, "Hello, I come here representing the Empire, with a gift for your species."

The Raloi cocked it's head to the side as Kayla spoke, before letting out a high pitched screech, causing Kayla to flinch. Kayla looked around nervously, but saw that the Raloi were holstering their weapons and the soldiers were walking away, "Greetings, Imperial and welcome to Aram, city of the Falls." said the Raloi in a deep, echo like voice, "You may call me, Caer."

Kayla nodded, "Alright Caer, I'm Shepard, I must admit, that I'm slightly eager to learn about your people." she responded, grinning.

"Follow me Shepard and we can discuss this gift of yours." Caer said.

As Kayla followed Caer, she noticed that the feathers along his arms were slightly longer then the rest of his feathers and, while they wouldn't likely allow flight, they may be useful in gliding. She also noticed that Caer appeared to have a long feathered mane, leading down from the crest of his head, to the middle of his back.

When they reached a large meeting hall, type area, Caer opened a pair of double doors, revealing a large number of Raloi eating raw meat and fish, "This way, if you would Shepard, our Elders are waiting for you." Caer informed.

As they passed by the feasting Raloi, Kayla noted that they all seemed to be quite lean and most had bare chests with various designs of paint across their chests and backs.

Kayla and her team passed by the gathering, led by Caer to an adjoining room, "Hmm, these birds have some good taste." she heard Wrex mutter.

"Keelah, I hope they don't develop a desire to try Quarian." Tali muttered as she saw a couple Raloi tear apart a large six limbed monkey-like creature.

Caer lead them into a dark room that had a window looking out towards the city. At the end of the room sat five elderly-looking Raloi in light, hooded robes. As they approached Caer bent down onto his knee and placed his talon over his eyes, "Elders, these are the Imperials that we have been negotiating with remotely." he said, "They say they have a gift for us."

One of the elders stood and walked over towards Caer, prompting him to stand up and remove his talon. Kayla noticed that this Raloian was a bit slimmer then others she had noticed, "Thank you, son, now why don't you go and eat with your brothers and sisters." said the slightly feminine voice.

Caer nodded and headed out towards the other Raloi as the elder turned towards Kayla as she brought down her hood. Kayla noticed that the elder didn't have a mane of feathers on her head, "Caer is your son?" Kayla asked.

The Raloi nodded, "Yes, all Raloi are our children, as we are children of Chalack." she explained, "I'm Rae, speaker for the Elders."

Kayla bowed her head slightly in greeting, "If I may," she began, "I would like to ask some questions about your people."

Rae nodded her head, "Very well."

"What do the painting marks I've seen mean?" she asked, "and what is that armor your warriors where made of?"

"The paint is a mark of adulthood and the various designs tell where an individual succeeds, such as a Raloi who excels at distance shooting, might receive an arrow design pointing towards their face." Rae answered, "As for the armor, it is a crystal like material that grows on our planet, a gift from Chalack, that when implanted into our warrior's skin, helps them to move swiftly and access deep reserves of strength."

Kayla nodded with enthusiasm, "Could this material be used by other races?" she asked.

Rae shook her head slowly, "No, a Turian diplomat tried it once, thinking himself akin to us due to our similarities in appearance." she explained, "but it devoured him."

Rae look Kayla in the eyes, as if trying to peer into her soul, "Tell me now human, we know that your Empire has been trying to get us to join, what is this gift you have brought that your leaders think can convince us?" she asked, "We know that your people convinced the Batarians through a proxy coup, and this has lead us to be suspicious of dealing with you."

Kayla nodded without breaking eye contact with Rae, "I understand Rae, the Empire would very much like to not have to use force in all of it's dealings with other races, especially ones that have been slighted by the Council."

Rae cocked her head in confusion, "Slighted?" she asked.

Kayla nodded, forming and acting a plan she had in her head, "Well, as you can see, we did our homework Rae, we did not want to put your people at unnecessary risk or inconvenience, while we negotiated." she said, "Can the Council say the same, I mean, I don't see them here offering you a cure for the disease that they unleashed."

Rae's eyes widened in surprise, "A vaccine?" she gasped, "But, with a vaccine we could begin colonizing, become a force of our own."

Kayla nodded and brought out a box containing the vaccine, "While the Council unleashed this disease, albeit unknowingly, it is the Arcturus Empire that cures it." she said handing the box to Rae, "You brought up the Batarians, and how we convinced them to join, but after they joined, you will find that they have flourished under Imperial rule, with their colonies and citizens being just as protected as Humans are."

"All we ask is that you and your people drink this vaccine, become strong, and use your strength to further protect the Empire and it's citizens." Kayla finished.

Rae looked back towards the other Elders and saw each of them nod slightly towards her. Rae nodded back and walked towards the hall where the Raloi were eating. As she walked towards the front of the hall, with Kayla following, she shrieked and grabbed the attention of the Raloi, "Caer, come here!" she said.

Caer leaped towards them and appeared in front of Rae in three long jumps, "Elder." he said kneeling.

Rae opened the box and pulled out one of the vials containing the vaccine, "Drink this my son." she ordered.

Caer drank a gulp of the vaccine, "How do you feel child?" Rae asked.

Caer shrugged, "The same as always Elder, why?"

Rae ignored the question and motioned for Kayla to come over, "Shepard, if you would, take off your helmet." she said.

Kayla nodded as most of the Raloi leaped away from Kayla. Rae stepped a distance back away from Kayla and motioned for Caer to stay still when he looked like he might flee. Kayla took off her helmet and smiled at Caer, "Nice to meet you without the helmet on." she said.

Caer looked down at himself but noticed that his feathers were still black, "Are you not infected?" he asked.

Kayla looked back at Tali, "Tali scan me with your omni-tool and display the readings, lets see if I carry the virus." she ordered.

Tali nodded and began her scan. As it finished Tali shook her head as she displayed the results, "I'm not a doctor but, these results show strands of contagions in the Commander's system that seem to match up with strands of the virus we have on record, you are a carrier Commander." Tali said.

Caer's eyes widened in shock, "But, how have I not contracted the disease then?" he asked.

"Because, the Empire provided us with a vaccine." Rae explained as she motioned for Kayla to put her helmet back on, "A vaccine that you just took."

Caer screeched in delight, "So we can finally fly amongst the stars now, Elder?" he asked excitedly, "Is the vaccine permanent?"

Kayla nodded, smiling at the Raloi's excitement as she put her helmet back on, "According to our scientists, as the vaccine enters your body, your system will absorb a counter strand of the virus, meant to kill it as it enters your body." she repeated from memory, "This absorption affects you on a molecular level, so once it is first absorbed, you wont need to ingest it again."

The Raloi screeched in excitement as Rae stepped forward, "Children, this is a sign from Chalack." she said, "The God of the Sky wants us to spread throughout his universe and the best way we can do that, is to help the Empire that has given us this gift to expand and survive."

The Raloi screeched again, seemingly in agreement as Rae chorused with her screech. When they all quieted down from their short celebration, Rae turned back towards Caer, "Son, my heir, you are the closest thing to an ambassador that we have." she said, "Therefore, you shall go back with our new siblings to swear our race to the Empire."

Caer nodded, "Gladly, Elder." he said, "I shall have the crystal implanted immediately and collect my gun."

**Normandy**

_2 days after the celebrations in Aram ended_

Kayla walked off the shuttle onto the Normandy, flanked by her companions and Caer. She had noticed that Caer's armor looked a lot more extravagant then the others she had see, and that it seemed to flow around his eyes in a half-helmet pattern.

"So, I've been meaning to ask Caer." Kayla said, "What kind of guns do your people use?"

Caer brought up his pistol, "We call them Kishok weapons." he said, "They are designed to project a Kishok's teeth at incredibly high speeds, carving through most types of protection, though it may not break through a star ship's hull."

Kayla looked at him in confusion, "Kishok?" she asked.

Caer nodded, "They are a predator on our planet, second to top of the food chain, with teeth that carve through steel with ease." he explained, "As we advanced, we realized that the creature's teeth would make great weapons against our enemies."

Kayla nodded, "Thank you for explaining, we have a room available to you while we head to Arcturus Station, feel free to treat this as a home away from home." she said.

As Kayla was about to head towards the CIC to report to Hackett, she was stopped by Wrex, "We need to talk Shepard." he said.

Kayla looked at the Krogan, "Alright Wrex, what about?"

"Did you mean what you said to the Raloi?" he asked, "About how your Empire treats it's members, about how your members thrive?"

Kayla nodded, "Of course Wrex, I'm not in the business of lying." she responded, "Why?"

Wrex shrugged, "We'll see." he grunted, dismissing Kayla's question.

Kayla shrugged and headed to the CIC. As she entered the room, she nearly ran into Tela Vasir, "So, the Raloi." Vasir simply said.

Kayla nodded, "They are an interesting culture." she responded.

Vasir nodded, "Indeed, a shame you beat us to the negotiation table, one of the flaws with the Citadel, we can never seem to get much done where politics are concerned." she complained.

Kayla grinned, "You know, the Asari would probably be welcomed into the Empire as well." she offered.

Vasir laughed, "Good shot Commander, but your not **that** good of a diplomat, the Council is our baby, and even with its flaws, it is where the Asari belong." she said

Kayla nodded and continued past her towards the comm. room, "Grand Marshall, I have news on the Raloi." she said as she linked the comm. to Arcturus Station.

"I'll bet Commander, my reports say that you have gotten the Raloi to join us and are on your way to conduct the ceremony." Hackett said.

Kayla nodded, "That's correct sir, the Raloi take their ceremonies seriously and insisted that we head to the station right away to induct their representative." she said.

"That's good Commander, The Emperor himself is interested in this species and believe they could prove to be an asset on the ground." Hackett said, "While your at the Station, your crew is free to move around, though the Council members will be watched, but you must bring the representative to the War Room as soon as you arrive."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Kayla responded as she cut the communication, "To Arcturus Station Joker."

**Arcturus Station**

_War Room_

Kayla stood behind Hackett with another soldier and looked around the room. She saw the Emperor Saian sitting in the chair at the middle of the table, with the current leader of the Wraiths standing to his left, a man with black hair and blue eyes that almost seemed to glow. glancing at the Emperor, she noticed that he had sandy hair and dark green eyes. He was wearing an outfit that resembled a Wraith's uniform, except for being white.

Kayla then turned her head away from the table and looked at where Caer was currently kneeling before the Emperor, "The Elders have sent me as their representative, my lord." he said, remembering his discussions with Kayla on how to address the Emperor, "The Raloi desire to join our family with yours, to strike down those who would harm our new siblings, to assist our new family in prospering and expanding, to ensure that we all might fly among the stars, as you have allowed us."

"As the speaker for the Raloi, I swear by Chalack, God of the Sky, that we shall forever be bound to our new family." Caer finished.

The Emperor stood from his seat and slowly made his way around the table to Caer, flanked by the Wraith, "Well said Caer, I would be more than happy to welcome a people that offer such devotion into the Empire." he said, "Now stand as an equal among my people and ready to co-ordinate your people's integration into the Empire's sectors."

Caer nodded and stood, "As you command, Father." he replied, forgetting the honorifics he was supposed to use. Before he could correct himself the Emperor chuckled and walked towards his shuttle.

Kayla noticed that everyone seemed to relax and go back to their normal routines as the Emperor left. She walked up towards Caer, "Congratulations Caer, I'm glad to have your people in the Empire." she said.

Caer gave what sounded like a chuckle, "Thank you Shepard, it seems I have some work to do now." he said.

Kayla nodded, "Indeed, but it will be worth it, I'm sure." she replied, "I should be getting back to my mission now, take care Caer, and let me know if you have any warriors who would like to serve aboard the Normandy some time, I wouldn't mind one of your people around."

Caer nodded as Kayla walked out of the room towards her ship.

**Normandy**

Chiron stood near the airlock door as Kayla came in, "So, how is your future husband, sister?" he asked.

Kayla blushed, "Would you shut up." she said, "I'm not the one with a fetish here, that would be you Mr. Quarian man."

"Maybe you aren't a Xenophobe, Kayla, you just needed to find the right species." he laughed as she punched his shoulder

"I said shut up." she responded, "Joker, I have some information on where we can go next."

"Where to Commander?" Joker asked

"Intelligence discovered that Matriarch Beneziah has a daughter, who is currently doing some archaeology work on some Prothean ruins on Therum." she said.

"Alright Commander, I'll plot in the course as soon as your ready." Joker replied

Kayla nodded, "Good, we will let the team have a day of shore leave and then leave as soon as they are all back aboard."

"Aye, aye Ma'am." Joker replied.

* * *

_A/N Alright, got some foreshadowing in there and we can head back to the main game section of the story and to the rescue of Ms. Archaeologist extraordinaire!_


	10. Therum

_A/N quick thank you to Cellestor for pointing out my usage of crucible instead of conduit in chapter "This is too easy" the chapter should now be changed with the correct word usage there and without further ado, Therum._

* * *

**Therum**

Kayla activated the Mako's thrusters as they dropped down onto Therum's surface, in order to slow their descent. As they landed, she took off down what looked like a road towards the location that Joker had picked up some strange readings from.

"Shepard, are you sure we are going to the right location?" she heard Garrus ask from his position on the gun.

Kayla shook her head, "Not for sure, no." she said, "But it is the best lead we've got on where the good doctor might be."

"Commander we are picking up hostile signatures, looks like Geth." Ashley reported.

Garrus began firing the main gun as soon as the Geth came into view.

Kayla grinned as she rammed into a few more Geth, "Well Garrus, I think we are on the right trail now." she said.

Garrus chuckled, "Looks like you were right, Commander."

As they continued along the path they faced a large steel wall, guarded by Geth turrets, "I don't think a frontal assault would be a good idea." Garrus muttered.

Kayla nodded, "Indeed." she said, "Alternate routes Ash?"

Ashley nodded, "Yes ma'am, I'm picking up a trail to the right."

Kayla drove the Mako to the right down the narrow path, "You know, you would think machines would be smart enough to put heavier defenses on this opening." she said to herself as they drove into the middle of the Geth camp.

Kayla parked the Mako and made to get out, "Garrus, stay on the gun and keep me covered as I open the rear gate." she ordered.

Kayla activated her stealth equipment and rushed towards the building hooked up to the gate. As she entered she saw a couple Geth near the opening mechanism. Kayla took out one of her biotic grenades and threw it at the Geth's feet. Before they could do anything the grenade exploded, shredding on of the Geth and lifting the other into the air. The Geth began firing wildly as it spun in the air. One of the Geth's shots hit Kayla in the shoulder as she fired her pistol into the Geth's headpiece.

"Damn flashlight heads." she grunted as she put medi-gel over the injured area.

She walked over to the opening mechanism and opened the rear gate. As it opened she reactivated her cloak and returned to the Mako, "Look's like one of those flashlights got you Commander." Ashley said as they began driving back down the road.

Kayla nodded, "Ya, damn thing got lucky before I killed it."

As they traveled down the road, Kayla stopped the Mako in front of a narrow path, "Well, looks like we are on foot from here." she said as she got out of the Mako.

As they walked up the path, they found themselves coming under Geth fire. Kayla and her squad fought through the Geth and arrived at what looked to be a dig site leading into a large underground cavern, "I think this is the place." Ashley muttered.

Kayla nodded as a giant metal object came flying down, slamming into the ground.

"Spirits, Colossus!" Garrus shouted as the three of them dove behind cover.

"Alright Garrus, aim for it's head plate, let keep it focused over here and distracted." Kayla ordered, "Ash, you and I will cloak up and circle around, from there we'll overload it's shields and shove as many biotic grenades as we can under it, hopefully that will shred it to pieces."

Garrus began firing off rounds at the Colossus's head, causing it to fire pulses at the rock Garrus was hiding behind.

Kayla and Ashley made their behind the machine and coded in an overload to disable the Colossus's shield.

"Alright that is as good as we are going to get it." Kayla said as they released the overload into the machine's system, "Throw your grenades now!"

Kayla and Ashley threw their remaining biotic grenades as Garrus through in a couple frags. Some of the grenades landed beneath the machine as others landed on top of it. All the grenades exploded in quick succession, tearing the Colossus to pieces.

Kayla grinned at the smoldering corpse, "Well then, let's hope they don't have any more of those hiding inside." she said.

The squad took an elevator down into the cavern, "Damn, this place is huge." Ashley muttered.

Garrus nodded, "Ya, quite impressive really."

As they exited the elevator onto a walkway, Ashley looked over the edge and whistled, "Damn, if I spit over the edge Commander, how long do you think it would take to land on the ground?"

Kayla looked at Ashley in surprise, "Really Ash?" she said, "now isn't exactly the time for that."

"R..right Commander, sorry." Ashley said.

As the team continued down the walkway, they began to hear someone's voice but couldn't make out the words, "You hear that?" Kayla asked as Garrus and Ashley nodded.

"I think it is coming from just below us, the elevator over there should take us down." Ashley said, pointing towards the elevator.

Kayla nodded and they entered the elevator, heading down towards the source of the voice. As they waited Kayla impatiently patted her foot, "You would think that we could make faster elevators then this, in this day and age." she muttered.

When the elevator finally stopped, they exited and found themselves looking at an Asari who appeared to be suspended in a blue bubble, behind an energy field, "Ha, fantastic." the Asari said, "I'm so far gone that my mind is making me think Imperials would come to my rescue."

Kayla noticed that the Asari appeared to be suffering from delusions, possibly from being suspended for a long period of time.

"Not this time mind." The Asari muttered, "You can't trick me, I know enough about the Arcturus Empire to know that they would never send someone to save a Council race."

Kayla whispered to Garrus, "See if you can find a way around this thing, while I try to calm her down."

As Garrus took off to see if he could find a way around, Kayla turned her attention back to the Asari, "Hello, are you Liara Tsoni?" she asked.

The Asari looked at her for a moment in confusion, "Hmm, they never talked to me before, must be my brain finding new torments." she said, "Anyways, yes delusion, I am Liara, though you already knew that, considering you are a part of me."

Kayla smiled, "Well, Ms. Tsoni, I'm not a delusion." she began, "I was sent as part of an Imperial/Council joint effort to track down Saren, we are hoping you might have knowledge of you mother."

Liara looked at Kayla in confusion, "Alright, let's say you aren't just a delusion." she said, "Why would you want to know about my mother."

Before Kayla could answer a large explosion, caused tremors to run through the cavern, "I guess Garrus found us a way around." she muttered, "Give us a moment Tsoni, and we should have you right out of there."

Kayla and Ashley met Garrus at the bottom of the cavern, in front of a large hole, "Mining laser." Garrus explained at their confused looks.

The squad made their way up to where Liara was suspended, behind the energy field.

"Ah, I suppose this means you are in fact real." Liara muttered as they arrived, "I suppose the shaking was our mining laser?"

Kayla nodded, "So, how do we get you out of here?" she asked.

"Well, this is a bit embarrassing, but when we got reports of the Geth, I activated the defense systems of this facility, however I seemed to trip a trap as well." Liara said, "Pressing the button to your right, should release me."

"Should?" Garrus asked suspiciously.

"Commander, are you sure we can trust her?" Ashley asked, "I mean, she could be working with her mother."

Before Kayla could respond, the caver began shaking again and rocks fell from the ceiling, "Damn, we don't have time to debate this." she said as she punched the release button, "We have to move now!"

Liara nodded as she got up, "This elevator should take us to the top of the facility, from there we should be able to exit."

Kayla nodded and they all began to rise up the elevator. As they waited for it, she connected to the Normandy, "Joker, we will need an immediate evac, lock on to our position."

"Roger, commander." Joker responded.

As the elevator came to a stop, they found themselves facing a large Krogan and four Geth.

"So nice of you to save us the trouble of breaking through that energy field." the Krogan said, "Now, hand over the Doctor."

Kayla glared, "Damnit, we don't have time for this." she said, "Everyone, open fire, focus on the Krogan."

Kayla's squad ducked behind some crates and began firing on the Krogan, as Liara threw a singularity at the Geth and ran behind a wall. Kayla saw shot down the three Geth caught by the singularity and threw the fourth into a wall.

"Ashley, take out the fourth Geth." she ordered as she cloaked up and made her way around the Krogan. Kayla unsheathed her knife and made to slit the Krogan's throat.

"I can smell you Human." the Krogan said as he fired his shotgun in Kayla's direction.

The shot barely missed Kayla as she rounded around a wall, "Damnit," she muttered.

As the Krogan began to get closer to where Kayla was hiding, she heard a gun shot and saw blood splatter on the ground. When she looked around the corner, she saw the Krogan was dead on the ground and it's head was missing.

"Thanks for distracting that berserker, Commander." Garrus said, giving what appeared to be a Turian version of a grin.

The Commander chuckled as the Cavern gave another large tremor, "Damnit, we need to get out of here, now!"

Kayla, her squad, and Liara raised out of the cavern through a tunnel. As they began to see a hole at the end of the tunnel with light coming through, the tunnel began to collapse. Kayla summoned the last reserves of her energy and sped up out of the tunnel, pushing a worn out Liara with her.

Just as the tunnel collapsed Kayla, her squad, and Liara escaped and found themselves facing the Normandy. Kayla looked around herself and laughed, "Ah, that was fun." she said grinning, "But let's not try to run out of collapsing underground ruins again."

**Normandy**

Kayla found herself looking at the images of the Council, with Vasir standing to her right and Chiron leaning against the wall near the door.

"I know you Imperials are reckless Commander, but was the destruction of a Prothean ruin strictly necessary?" Sparatus asked.

Kayla glared at the Turian, "We didn't exactly have a choice here Councilor."

Sparatus grunted, "Are you at least taking precautions against the Matriarch's daughter?" he asked.

Kayla growled, "She is not a prisoner, Turian." she said.

Sparatus glared back at Kayla, "You will watch your tone human."

"I've had enough." Kayla said loudly enough for Joker to pick up over the intercom.

"Oooh, we have appeared to have lost the signal Commander." Joker said, "A shame that, I think that Turian fellow was starting to warm up to you."

Chiron started laughing from his position against the wall as Vasir slowly rubbed her temples, "Commander, I hate Sparatus as much as the next person, but you can't just hang up on the Council." Vasir said.

Kayla shook her head, "Wrong Tela, you can't hang up on the Council, but I do not fall under their jurisdiction." she replied, "Anyways let's gather everyone here and see where we can go from here."

Everyone sat around the conference room, including Liara. As they informed Liara about the vision, her eyes seemed to light up, "A Prothean artifact gave you this vision?" she said, "Yes, that would make sense."

Liara turned towards Chiron, "If you would let me, a meld might allow my knowledge of the Protheans to help you understand the vision better." she said.

Chiron glanced over towards Kayla and saw her nod, "Very well." he said.

Chiron and Liara stood up and faced each other, "Relax Chiron," she said, "Embrace Eternity!"

The vision flashed before Chiron's mind again, but this time he could easily make out an alien species fighting and being slaughtered by machines that looked a lot like the ship from Eden Prime.

When the meld was finished, Liara nearly feinted, "I... I was right, the Protheans didn't just disappear, they were wiped out." she said, "And if my research is correct this has been going on for a very long time."

Liara looked into Chiron's eyes, "You have an extraordinary mind Chiron, a lesser person would have been destroyed by that vision."

Tali felt a flash of jealousy upon seeing how close Liara was standing to Chiron, but she couldn't figure out why.

Chiron shifted uncomfortably, "Riiight." he muttered, "Anyways, do you know where, your mother is?" he asked.

Liara nodded, "Yes, we haven't had any serious contact in years, but I kept some eyes out for her." she said, "She arrived on Noveria not to long ago and should still be there, I.."

Liara held her head and began to wobble as Kayla jumped up and steadied her, "I think we should get you to the med bay, when was the last time you have eaten?" she asked.

Liara shook her head, "I can't remember."

Kayla nodded, "Lets get you to Chakwas, she should be able to help."

Liara nodded and they began to walk down to the med bay. The rest of the group took that as the signal to break the meeting and began leaving.

Chiron walked over to Tali before she could leave, "So Tali, we haven't gotten to talk much, did you still want to know about the Spectre/Wraith rivalry?" he asked.

Tali shook her head, "Kayla explained that to me, but I do have a question if you don't mind." she said.

Chiron shook his head, "Go ahead and ask." he said.

"I noticed back on Feros that people were afraid of you because you were a Wraith and seemed to follow your orders without question," she began, "Is there a reason you're not in charge? or am I misunderstanding Imperial ranks again?"

Chiron thought for a moment, "Well, technically, one could say that I outrank Kayla." he said, "As a Wraith, I report to both the Emperor and the current head of the Wraiths, however in practice, we allow the official military to guide our actions, it makes things easier."

Tali nodded, "That sounds a lot like how the Fleet works." she said.

Chiron's eyes sparkled in curiosity, "Oh?" he said, "What is the Migrant Fleet like?"

"Well, officially we are ruled by the Admiralty Board, five admirals who's decisions affect the whole of the Fleet." Tali explained, "However, the Conclave, our civilian form of government, typically handles the daily running's of the Fleet and individual Captains, are typically allowed to handle any issues that affect individual ships."

Chiron nodded, "Interesting." he said, "Let's hope I get more opportunities to learn about your people, Ms. Tali'Zorah."

Tali felt herself blush for a moment before shaking it off, "Of course, Chiron." she said, "I would be happy to answer any questions you have."

Chiron grinned and began walking off to plot a course for Noveria, in Kayla's place, "Glad to hear it Tali." he said as he left the conference room.

* * *

_A/N Alright, so I'll freely admit that I have never been too good at writing romance points, so I hope I'm doing a good job with Tali/(M) Shep. Still not sure where I want to take Kayla in the romance department however, so we shall see._


	11. The Old Enemy

_A/N Alright folks, I want to apologize for not getting this out yesterday like I had planned. Crap came up and I got distracted. Also, I am happy to see people enjoyed the Raloi, I'm always nervous about making cultures for some of these races._

_ Adjuster- The Raloi were an amalgamation of things but largely, I drew inspiration from their avian description and decided to play with how I might imagine a predatorial species evolving. I also looked at the Na'vi from Avatar and Bioware's Dalish for some inspiration. As for appearance, that I largely got from Guild Wars's Tengu. I hope that answer's that question._

* * *

**Normandy**

Kayla walked into the med bay and headed towards where Chakwas was sitting, "Hello Doc." she said, "How is our guest?"

Chakwas looked up towards Kayla, "She is doing much better, just needed some food, water, and rest." she explained.

Kayla grinned, "Great." she said, "So would now be a good time to talk with her?"

Chakwas nodded, "Of course." she said while motioning towards the door behind her, "I've allowed her to utilize my quarters for the time being, you keep me too busy for a room of my own."

Kayla chuckled and walked towards the door. As she entered the room she saw Liara sitting at a desk, studying a data pad. Kayla walked up behind Liara, "Are we feeling better?"

Liara jumped slightly at the sound of Kayla's voice, "Oh, um, yes Shepard, though I'm not sure how you are feeling." she stammered, "Your Doctor is surprisingly learned in Asari physiology, I didn't expect that from an Imperial Doctor."

Kayla chuckled at Liara's nervousness, "Please, call me Kayla, it will avoid future confusion." she said, "As for Chakwas, ya she is special amongst the Imperial Military, we are lucky to have her on board."

Liara looked at Kayla in confusion, "Why would using your last name cause confusion?" she asked before her eyes widened in shock at the statement, "Oh, not that using the name you prefer is bad!"

Kayla smiled, "Calm down Liara, it's just that my brother serves aboard the Normandy as well, so using our family name can get confusing." she explained, "Is there a reason your so jumpy?"

Liara blushed, "I, don't spend much time around people, other than my few contacts outside of my research teams." she said, "I always manage to say something stupid or offensive."

Kayla nodded, "Well, don't worry so much about that here, if you have any questions myself, or Doctor Chakwas would be more than happy to answer."

Liara nodded and smiled, "Thank you Shep.. Kayla."

Kayla smiled and left to head back towards the CIC. As she reached the stairs, she heard Joker's voice over the intercom, "We are approaching Noveria now Commander, they are asking what are business here is."

Kayla sighed and walked up towards the cockpit. As she arrived, she noticed Vasir standing behind Joker.

"Docking security, this is Spectre Tela Vasir, requesting permission to dock, we have business on Noveria." Kayla heard her say through the Normandy's communications system in the cockpit.

"Roger that Normandy, you are authorized to dock, but we will be checking your credentials when you land." replied the docking security.

Kayla looked over towards Vasir with an eyebrow raised as Vasir grinned back at her, "It seems that I'm not needed after all."

Joker glanced back at Kayla, "Ya, sorry Commander, Vasir volunteered to help with the docking procedure when she heard me on the intercom." he explained, "Good to see having a Spectre is paying off."

Kayla sighed, "Well, you're coming this time Vasir, considering they need to check your credentials." she said, "We should probably bring Wrex along as well, don't want him getting too bored on the ship."

Vasir nodded, "A Krogan would definitely help our bargaining position on Noveria."

Kayla looked at Vasir in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Noveria is a business planet, that is all they deal in." Vasir began to explain, "Everything can be bought or sold and the only rules are to not get caught screwing the Board of Directors that controls the planet, in a place like that, muscle can help convince others to work with us."

Kayla nodded, "I see your point." she said as she left to gear up and inform Wrex that he might get to bash some heads.

**Noveria**

_Port Hanshan_

Kayla, Vasir, and Wrex exited the Normandy's docking corridor. As they walked down the walkway, Kayla heard someone running towards them from behind, "Wait Kayla!" she heard Liara shout.

Kayla's eyes widened in surprise as she saw an armed Liara dressed in an Imperial uniform, "Liara?" she asked, "Is something wrong?"

Liara shook her head, "No, its just..." she began taking a deep breath, "Beneziah is my mother and if she has betrayed the Council, then I have a right to be there to find out why."

Kayla thought to herself for a moment before nodding, "Very well, Liara you have made your case." she said, "Though I have to ask, where did you get the uniform?"

Liara blushed and looked down for a moment, "Well, I didn't have any kind of armor, it wasn't necessary for my line of work." she explained, "So, Chakwas offered me this uniform that she had in storage, she didn't say who it belonged to."

Kayla looked down, sadness flashing over her face for a second, "Jenkins." she muttered, "Well, let's get moving then, just be sure to keep up Liara."

Kayla and her squad made it through docking security with minimal difficulty, thanks to Vasir's Spectre status. Upon Anoleis' secretary's suggestion to speak to the administrator about continuing her investigation into Beneziah, Kayla lead her squad to meet with the Administrator.

As they entered Anoleis' office, the Salarian stood up, "Ah, good to finally meet you Commander." he said, "We don't do much business with your Empire, I don't suppose you are here to rectify that."

Kayla shook her head, "No such luck Administrator, we are here to talk about Beneziah."

Anoleis nodded, "Well, I can confirm that she is here but traditional methods of travel are currently blocked off." he said, "And we have a duty to protect our customer's privacy while they are on Noveria, so I can't tell you where she is."

Kayla glared at the Administrator as Wrex started to growl, "B...but, because you are with Ms. Vasir, I will make an exception." he said cowering before the angry Krogan, "She and her escort took the Tram to Peak 15 right before the blizzard set in, they should still be there, you can use one of the Makos in the garage." Anoleis finished as he handed Kayla a pass card.

Kayla grinned as they left the Administrator's office, "Yep, angry Krogan are definitely good bargaining chips." she said causing Wrex to chuckle.

Kayla and her squad made there way into the garage, but as they approached a Mako near the garage door, they found themselves under attack by Geth. With the help of the Port's security forces they quickly dispatched the Geth.

One of the security guards approached Kayla, "What the hell was that?!" she asked.

Kayla shook her head, "If I had to guess, it was a present left by Beneziah, you might want to look around the facility and make sure there aren't any more surprises."

The security guard nodded and left to start getting her men to search the facility. Kayla lead her squad into the Mako and they left the garage, into a mountain pass leading to Peak 15.

**Peak 15**

The squad slowly exited the Mako and entered the Peak 15 facility. As they walked in Vasir grinned, "Must be a family trait." she said to Kayla.

Kayla looked at her in curiosity, "What?" she asked.

Vasir chuckled, "Oh, trying to kill your squad when driving."

Kayla glared in mock anger, "Hey now, I'm no where near as bad as Chiron, only a few bones will be broken, he will break all of them."

Liara looked between the two women in confusion, "I don't mean to question you Spectre, but what do you mean?" she asked, "Kayla was a perfectly safe driver while we were coming here."

Kayla laughed as Vasir tried to explain, "I'm joking with her Liara, we really should get you out of the lab more."

Liara blushed as she nodded, "Oh, that make sense." she said.

Kayla chuckled, "Don't worry Liara, you'll get the hang of this in no time."

The team continued into the facility, noticing that the staff appeared to have disappeared in a hurry. Kayla and her squad walked into a decontamination chamber, leading further into the facility and noticed that there were turrets in position, facing towards the rest of the facility.

"Trying to keep something in?" Wrex offered.

Vasir nodded, "A contamination leak would explain why this place is abandoned and they wouldn't want a contagion getting out of the facility."

As the team walked out of the decontamination room, they found themselves in a darkened room, that appeared to be some kind of research area for staff members. They walked through room. Kayla began to hear a scurrying sound around them. She flashed a light towards where she heard the sound coming from but she found nothing there. As she turned back towards the direction she was heading, she felt something slam into her from the side, "Crap." she yelped as she was thrown onto the ground with a large insect looking creature attacking her.

Kayla tried to kick the insect off of her but found it too heavy. As she tried to think of what to do, she saw two tentacle like appendages, tipped with sharp spikes, being raised above the creatures head. Kayla quickly moved her head away from the first appendage's thrust. As the second one was about to descend, Kayla was able to activate her stealth cloak, momentarily surprising the creature. In the moment that Kayla bought her self, she managed to free her knife and began to wildly stab into the creatures eyes.

The creature finally collapsed and Kayla was able to stand up. After she managed to recover her breath, she contacted the rest of the investigating squad, "We've got bug like hostiles, stay alert and regroup near the exit, we need to go further in." she said.

As she headed towards the door, she heard Wrex over the comm. ,"Bug like?" he muttered, "Couldn't be."

The team entered the security portion of another decontamination room, leading into the tram station. The squad looked into the decontamination room, through a window and saw a couple of the large insect creatures and a swarm of smaller ones flooding the room.

Wrex charged up to the glass, "No!" he said loudly, "They can't be alive."

Kayla grabbed Wrex's shoulder, "Slow down Wrex," she said, "What are you talking about?"

Kayla noticed Vasir looking at the creatures in surprise as Wrex explained, "Your people weren't around yet Commander, but these monsters are called Rachni." he said, "Centuries ago, they threatened the entire Galaxy with war and almost ended the Council, until the Salarians brought my people into the fight."

Wrex glared at the creatures in confusion before pressing in a decontamination protocol in the terminal nearby, setting all of the creatures within on fire, "We wiped them out, we thought they were all dead." he said.

Kayla thought to herself, "Hmmm, I could see why Saren would want to have these creatures brought back." she muttered.

The team entered the now cleansed room and continued into the tram.

Kayla and her squad departed from the tram when it arrived at the other side of the facility, as the exited they found themselves facing armed Turians, the one in charge looked at Kayla in shock, "Imperials?" he said, "Spirits, why are your people here?"

Kayla looked at the Turian suspiciously, "We are tracking Matriarch Beneziah, are you working for her?"

The Turian shook his head, "No, we are security placed here by the Board." he said.

Kayla nodded, "Do you know where she went?"

"Ya, down into the Hot Labs, but she is probably dead with these things on the loose." he replied.

Liara shook her head, "No, my mother would still be alive, even for a Matriarch she is quite strong."

As Kayla was about to respond, she heard the scurrying sound again, followed by a loud crash behind them as two large Rachni popped up from the grates behind them. Liara caught the two Rachni in a singularity, allowing the rest of the soldiers to pick off the Rachni as they flailed wildly in the air.

As the Rachni fell to the ground, dead, the Turian lowered his weapon, "Thanks for the help." he said, "Look, I can't send you any help if you really want to keep tracking the Matriarch, but I can give you a pass that will let you get through security and down into the labs."

Kayla nodded her head in thanks as she took the pass. The team continued passed the security guards and the little camp that was set up with the rest of the survivors. As they approached the elevator Liara stopped them, "Shouldn't we try to help these people?" she said, "We can't just leave them."

Kayla slowly shook her head, "We don't have time to," she explained, "the longer we delay the greater the chance that Beneziah has to escape."

"Besides, if she is behind this, then the best way we can help these people is by finding her and seeing if there is a way to purge the facility of these Rachni." Kayla finished.

Liara nodded sadly in understanding, "Very well, Kayla." she said as they entered the elevator.

The squad found a large number of Rachni infesting the Hot Labs. Luckily the colder temperatures of the Hot Labs appeared to be slowing the Rachni's movement, allowing the team to kill the creatures with little difficulty.

Kayla led her team into a room that appeared to be a central experimentation room for the facility, "So, you bring my child in an attempt to make me falter." said a voice.

Kayla looked towards where the voice came from and saw an elderly looking Asari in a black dress standing in front of them, "Mother!" Kayla heard Liara cry.

Beneziah looked at her daughter with contempt, "What have you told them about me Liara, what secrets have you shared?"

Liara glared back at her mother in despair, "What could I tell them Mother?" she lamented, "we haven't spoken in years, you ignore my messages, again, what could I tell them?"

Beneziah sniffed at her daughter in dismissal before turning towards Kayla, "Tell me human, have you ever faced an Asari Commando unit before?" she asked, "Few survive to tell the tale."

As if on queue a large number of Asari Commandos appeared around Kayla and her team and began shooting at them, "Under cover!" she shouted as they began returning fire.

Kayla looked over towards Liara, "Did Chakwas show you how to use our favorite toy?" she asked.

Liara looked at her in confusion for a second before understanding dawned on her and she quickly nodded, "Good" Kayla said, "With me."

Kayla turned towards Wrex, "Show the group on the right why Krogan are to be feared." she ordered as he grinned and stood to carry out his orders.

"I. Am. Krogan!" he shouted as he charged the surprised Asari.

Kayla chuckled at the Krogan and turned towards Vasir, "Keep the left group occupied, while we sneak by and take them out from behind."

Vasir nodded and tried to warp the Commando group on the left, shredding one of their barriers and wounding another.

Kayla activated her cloak and made sure Liara did as well, and made there way behind the distracted Commandos. The Commandos began to throw a number of Biotic attacks at Vasir while firing their weapons. When they all seemed completely focused on the Spectre, Sheppard muttered towards Liara, "Now." and fired point blank at the back of one of the commando's head's.

Kayla and Liara made short work of the surprised Asari and Kayla had enough time to see Wrex throw his last opponent against the edge of a corner, breaking her spine. Before they had a chance to celebrate, Liara's body was surrounded by blue energy and she was thrown against a wall. Kayla had enough time to disappear before everyone else was forced into a stasis by the Matriarch, "You are a traitor, Daughter!" she shouted, "And now you will pay."

Liara shook her head violently, "I didn't betray the Council, Mother!" she screamed back as she tried to throw her mother, only to have her Biotics waved off, "That was you!"

"Fool," Beneziah replied, "The Council wont give the Asari what we need, only Saren, only Sovereign can give us Eter..." Beneziah stopped as she felt a sharp object enter into her throat. She turned around and saw Kayla de-cloak in front of her.

Beneziah had enough energy to throw Kayla against a nearby console, momentarily stunning her. Beneziah began to collapse from blood loss and clutched at her throat. Liara was released from her mother's Biotics and fell to the ground, as everyone else was released from stasis, "Mother!" Liara shouted again, rushing over to her dying mother.

Beneziah tried to say something as her child held her, "L...Little.. Wing... I... I..." Beneziah struggled as she bled out.

Kayla slowly recovered and found Liara crying over her mother's body. Wrex walked up to where she was standing and appeared to be glaring intently at the tank behind them, "Kayla, you should see this." he said.

As she turned around she saw a large, purple Rachni in the tank. Before she could do anything she heard Liara screech behind her. Kayla turned back around to see Beneziah slowly walking towards the tank, her eyes milky white and black veins popping out around her body, where her skin was exposed.

"Please." a hollow, echo-like voice said, using Beneziah's mouth. Kayla brought up her pistol.

"Who are you?" she asked, pointing the gun at Beneziah's head.

"We are the last queen of the Rachni." it said, "They stole our children from uss, cut them off from our song!"

Kayla looked back towards the Rachni in the tank incredulously, "You mean that you didn't cause all of this?" she asked.

"No, our children have gone feral, without our song." she said, "They must be purged, their maddened note ended!"

"Further in the labss, you will find a way to purge the facility." the Queen continued, "We have seen it, in this one's mind."

Kayla looked at the Queen closely, "And what about you?" she asked.

"Free us." the Queen responded, "We will disappear, not to bother you again."

Wrex turned towards Kayla, "You can't consider trusting this thing Kayla!" he shouted, "Purge the last of these monsters, before they threaten us again."

Kayla shook her head, "No, to both of you." she said as she turned towards Wrex, "I will not commit Genocide on the basis that they **might **become a threat, you of all people should understand that Wrex, or are we defending the Genofage now?"

Wrex look at her in surprise, "How do you know about that?"

"The Imperial Military teaches about it along with other atrocities as part of a program meant to teach officers what not to do." she explained before turning back towards the Queen.

"As for you, if I let you live, you will rebuild your people correct?" she asked.

The Queen made Beneziah's head nod in the affirmative, "Good." Kayla said, "Then when you have rebuilt, you will remember that you owe me and join the might of the Rachni, with that of the Empire."

The Queen appeared to stop moving for a moment, "You would except our song?" she asked quietly.

As Kayla nodded, the Queen screech from within her tank, "Agreed." she said.

Before Kayla could hit the release button, Liara stepped forward, "First you will release my mother!" she all but shouted, recovering from the shock of her dead mother getting up and talking in a different voice.

The Queen reflected sadness through Beneziah, "We cannot, she is too useful to us, we are weak without her." she said.

Vasir glared at Kayla, "I do not agree with this decision Kayla" she said, "But, if your Empire wants to play with the Rachni, just make sure that the rest of the Galaxy doesn't pay the price."

Vasir then turned towards Liara, placing a hand on her shoulder, "The body is no longer your Mother, Liara." she said, "You know this, do not start something over a husk, when the best of her lives in you."

Liara slowly nodded, "Very well."

As Kayla pressed the release button, she noticed several other black veined Asari getting up and leaving with Beneziah's body, "Alright, let's move on down to where the hostile Rachni are and purge this facility."

The squad entered the elevator and descended further into the Hot Labs. As the elevator opened they found themselves in a corridor leading into a large open room with a Salarian lying on the floor dead, a Rachni standing over his corpse.

Kayla fired on the Rachni, killing it quickly as Vasir went over to inspect the corpse.

Vasir stood up with a card in her hand, "Kayla, these appear to be codes for a neutron purge." she said, handing Kayla a list of numbers. Kayla and her squad went into a nearby room, looking for a terminal where they could use the codes.

When they entered through a pair of doors, they found themselves in a small room, surrounded by glass, with a terminal in the middle of the room. When they looked out of the glass, they found a large swarm of Rachni around an even larger number of un-hatched eggs.

"By the Goddess." Liara muttered.

Kayla approached the terminal and a female VI popped up, "Hello, I am Mira, how can I be of assistance?" the VI asked.

Kayla held up the activation codes, "I want to activate the Neutron Purge." she said as she rattled off the codes."

"Activation code, accepted." the VI said, "Purge commencing in fifty seconds...alert, multiple contagions detected in adjoining room."

"Damn." Kayla muttered, "We have to hurry."

As the team exited the room, they found Rachni swarming into the adjoining room blocking their escape. Vasir threw a shockwave of Biotic energy, in a line towards the corridor as Liara and Kayla threw singularity to the left and right of the masses of Rachni. Wrex charged threw the line with the three women following after.

Kayla felt herself getting slashed by the Rachni as they reached the other end of the room. The squad rushed through the corridor and into the elevator. As the elevator rose, the felt a large tremor shake the elevator when they were halfway up, "Glad to see the Purge only affected the lower labs," Vasir muttered.

Kayla nodded in agreement, "Well, lets go pick up the other survivors and return the Port, the Administrator will probably want to know what happened."

**Noveria**

_Port Hanshan_

Kayla arrived at the Administrator's office with her squad in time to see him being escorted by security in handcuffs, "Spectre." he pleaded, "arrest this woman, she is trying to take over the Port!"

Vasir raised her brow towards the secretary, "Oh, shut up Anoleis." she said before turning towards Vasir, "I'm Gianna Parasini, an agent of Internal Affairs, Anoleis here broke Noveria's one rule, he got caught taking the Board's money." she explained, "Was there something you all needed?"

Kayla nodded, "We just wanted to inform you that we brought the survivors from Peak 15 back, Rachni were released and destroyed the facility, we had to utilize a neutron purge to stop them." she reported as summarily as she could, while omitting the Queen.

Gianna shook her head, "Damn, stocks are going to drop when that news hits the fan." she said, "The Board wont be happy."

Kayla and her squad left the administrator's office and returned to the Normandy. As they neared the docking port, she pulled Vasir aside as the other went in, "We need to talk." she said.

"What about Kayla?" she asked.

"I know you will be making your report to the Council about this mission." she said, "I'm not blind to everyone's reaction about the Queen, and I think it would be bad if the Council learned about my deal with the Rachni."

Vasir sighed deeply, "Look Kayla, for a human, you have proved to be a decent and capable person." she said, "I trust you and because of that, I'll leave out your deal."

"But, the Spectres will be watching the Rachni's movements closely, I trust you, but I don't trust them." Vasir continued, "Besides, if the Council found out, they might try to go to war again and no one wants that, except maybe the Turians, there still a little sore."

Kayla nodded, "Thanks Vasir, so any leads on your end?"

Vasir shook her head, "None yet, but the Council might have found something while we were away."

Kayla perked up, "Well then, let's get into contact so I can promptly hang up on that Turian moron again!" she said with excitement as Vasir chuckled.

* * *

_A/N Ok bit of an end note, I want to say that I absolutely hated the Noveria mission in game, as such I skipped some of the parts in the story that I felt either made no sense or were put in to make the thing take longer. I also took a few liberties with Asari culture (I don't remember how they deal with their dead being mentioned) and Noveria's government._

_I have a few ideas for how Indoctrination will work in this story and have made a few other decisions that I hope you all will enjoy, so until next time!_


	12. Cerberus and Wraiths

**Normandy**

Chiron walked into the med bay to find Kayla getting deep gashes in her shoulder patched up by Chakwas, "Looks like you had some fun down there." he said.

Kayla winced as Chakwas applied some more medi-gel into the wound, "Ya, you should see the other guy." she replied.

Chiron chuckled, "So, the Rachni?" he asked.

Kayla nodded slowly, "Yep, I thought they could prove to be a useful asset, and that's just their feral warriors we met down there." she explained, "A trained regiment of Rachni warriors would make excellent ambush troops and that's ignoring any kind of cultural or scientific benefits they might end up bringing to the table."

Chiron nodded, "I hope so, we are taking a large risk on these bugs." he said, "Well, get better Sister."

"Ya, ya, go have your fun Xenophile, while your sister is tortured by the evil doctor." she complained.

Chiron chuckled as he heard her yelp while leaving the med-bay. He saw Alenko standing around the mess hall and headed towards him, "Alenko." he said.

Kaiden saluted Chiron, "Wraith." he said.

"At ease soldier, I'm just wondering how the ship is doing." Chiron explained

Kaiden nodded and relaxed, "Well, sir, Barras and his men are still a bit on edge thanks to the Spectre, but everyone seems to be warming up to Garrus and Wrex." he reported.

Chiron nodded, "Very good, the Commander wants us all to play nice, now if only we can get them to warm up to Vasir." he muttered as he walked down to the engineering room.

As Chiron exited the elevator, he came across Garrus and Wrex standing near the Mako, "Everything alright you two?" he asked.

Garrus and Wrex turned to him, "Sure, just discussing ways to upgrade the Mako and keep our baby safe while she is being driven." Garrus responded.

Wrex nodded his head, "Did you need something Wraith?" he asked.

Chiron shook his head, "Just checking on the crew while we try to pick up Saren's trail."

"Well, I caught Wrex here teaching some of the crew Krogan tactics during his off hours and I have been testing my shooting skills against some of your security soldiers," Garrus said, "They are pretty good shots, but none of them have beaten my record yet."

Chiron grinned, "Good." he said as he walked away from the two and towards engineering. As he neared the doors, he all but ran into Ashley, "Ah, getting along with the crew Williams?" he asked.

Ashley looked up at Chiron in surprise, "Oh, umm, yes Sir." she stammered, "Garrus has really proved trustworthy and while I still think Wrex is crazy, I doubt he would betray us."

"But I still have reservations regarding the Spectre, Sir." she continued, "Garrus might be a Turian but he is a good sort, but that Spectre is still loyal to the Council, we can't trust her to not leak secrets about the Normandy or the Empire."

Chiron nodded his head, "I understand where your concern comes from Williams, but if Vasir wanted us dead, we'd be dead by now." he said, "As it stands, she is monitored while on the Normandy and her calls to the Council are supervised, give her a chance."

Ashley nodded as Chiron continued into engineering. He spotted Tali working at her station, "Got some time to talk?" he asked her.

Tali nodded, turning around, "Sure, how can I help you Chiron?" she asked.

"Well, I was curious about the Quarian Pilgrimage actually." he said, "I mean that is why you were on the Citadel in the first place correct?"

Tali nodded, "Yes, as a right of passage, all Quarians are sent away from the Fleet when they reach the appropriate age, in order to find something out in the Galaxy that would be of benefit to the fleet." she said, "Usually, this consists of anything from stores of food to random ships that could be salvaged to repurposed."

Tali paused and began to wring her hands nervously, "However, there is a bit more expected of me, I need to find something that wouldn't just help the Fleet, but help us fight the Geth."

Chiron looked at Tali curiously, "Why would they expect more out of you, Tali?" he asked.

"Well, my father is on the Admiralty Board and as such, is a prominent figure among the Fleet, as his daughter much is expected of me." she replied.

Chiron nodded, "That must be difficult, being forced to live in your Father's shadow." he said as a pained look crossed is face momentarily.

Before Tali could question the look she saw cross his face, Joker's voice came on over the intercom, "Hey, Wraith, we have a message coming in from the Grand Marshall, he wants to speak with you."

Chiron shrugged and looked towards Tali, "Duty calls us all." he said as he walked back up to the CIC.

"Good that you got here quickly Wraith, we have a new mission for you." Hackett said when Wraith arrived in the comm. room, "After we analyzed your report and data from Feros, we dispatched Rear Admiral Kahoku to investigate this Cerberus organization."

Chiron nodded, "What did we find, sir?"

"Cerberus appears to have been a group that was formed shortly after they First Contact War, according to our reports, they are an extreme anti-Council group that conducts illegal and immoral experiments in order to, quote, advance the Empire and her allies," Hackett said, "However, we have lost word from Kahoku on an unnamed planet, you are to take a small team down to the planet and try and find Kahoku or any information he may have picked up, we are sending the co-ordinates now."

Chiron saluted, "Sir, yes, sir."

"For the Empire." Hackett said as he cut the link.

Chiron looked up towards the intercom, "Plot a course for the co-ordinates that High Command is sending us Joker."

"Ya, ya, I'm on it Wraith." Joker replied.

**Binthu**

"So, we are heading down to a base that we picked up on scanners, owned by an organization that wants to see Council races dead," Garrus summarized as the shuttle began to touch down, "and you decided to bring along a Turian and a Spectre, really Chiron?"

Chiron grinned as the shuttle landed, "Now Garrus, are you getting scared of a few Imperial supremacists now?" he questioned, "I thought you would have fun."

Garrus sighed, "I'm a sniper Chiron, we don't do well if we can't see our targets." he said, "And Imperial soldiers are good at not being seen, I doubt they would abandon that tech."

Vasir nodded as they exited the shuttle and faced the entrance to the apparently underground structure, "I have to agree with Garrus here, typical strategy when it comes to taking Imperial bases is to overwhelm with suppression fire in hallways, or distance bombardment, preferably orbital."

Chiron smiled, "Lets just say that the cloaks wont work with me here and they won't even try to use them," he explained as he began to raise his voice so an personnel in the area could here him, "Otherwise state secrets might end up getting leaked to the Council."

Chiron and his squad walked into the facility, noticing a number of scorch marks and bodies littering the hallway, "Hmmm, I would say that Kahoku was definitely here and managed to storm the facility." he said as he stopped to examine one of the Cerberus soldiers. Chiron noticed that while there uniform was similar, its colors were white and orange, and as well as the Imperial symbol on their chest they had an orange, hexagonal symbol with a single line outlining each side of the symbol.

The squad continued down the hallways, following the signs of fighting. As they walked they noticed several rooms filled with what appeared to be slabs of dissected Turians, Asari, and Salarians. There were also containment rooms for Rachni, and creatures that appeared to be Thorian zombies.

"This place is an abomination." Vasir muttered at the sight of a dissected Asari.

Finally they came to the end of a hallway and entered a pair of doors leading into a wide room. The room was littered with both Imperial and Cerberus bodies, bodies that appeared to have been cut, not shot and in the middle of the room stood a man in what appeared to be a Cerberus version of a Wraith uniform. At his feet lay, what appeared to be, Kahoku's body.

Chiron glared at the Wraith, "What is your name traitor?" he asked.

The Wraith began giggling, "Names." the Wraith's feminine voice said, "Names are pretty little things that an experiment doesn't need."

The Wraith kept giggling as she slowly turned around and raised what appeared to be a dark metal claw on her hand, "Traitor?" she asked as she staggered towards the squad, slowly waving the claw and wildly looking at the corpses around her, "I suppose that I might be, considering the body count." The Wraith seemed to start counting how many how many bodies were on the floor.

Chiron took a moment to examine the Wraith, he noticed that she appeared to be bald and had a large number of scars around her face and neck, he found that her eyes however were completely black.

"Eat they say, you'll be strong they say," she began to mutter, "We can see Eternity too they say."

She raised the claw like implement to her face, "It amplifies the Biotics as well and it cuts; steel, flesh, barriers, anything so far." she said as she rolled her head so she was staring at Chiron.

Chiron calmed down and tried to speak to the mad Wraith slowly, "Tell me Wraith, do you still remember our code?" he asked.

She nodded, "A Wraith exists to serve the will of the Empire, as a Wraith we are obliged to assist only the Emperor and our brother and sister Wraiths, so that they to may better serve the will of the Empire." she recited in a moment of lucidity before giggling again.

Chiron nodded, "Good, good" he said while slowly stepping towards her, "Now would you help a fellow Wraith and allow me to see that claw of yours?"

The Wraith appeared to look closer at Chiron's uniform before smiling brightly, "Sure thing brother Wraith." she said as she removed the claw and skipped towards him with it.

As she neared, Vasir and Garrus made sure that they had a clear line of fire on her. The Wraith handed the claw to Chiron.

"Thank you sister Wraith." he said using a similar honorific as her to try and keep her calm, "Could you tell me what happened?"

The Wraith looked down at the bodies for a moment before smiling again, "I killed them all, those who made me eat and those who began to shoot." she explained, "The ones with the many eyes made rather loud noises when they died by the way, you might want to wear ear muffs if you kill them brother Wraith."

Chiron slowly walked around her as she was talking and drew his knife. As he stood behind her he muttered, "I'm sorry we couldn't rescue you and the others."

The Wraith turned around quickly and felt a sharp pain in her chest, "W...what.." she mumbled as she looked down to find the hilt of a knife protruding from her chest.

"Check around and see if you can find a recording of what happened." Chiron muttered to his team as the Wraith's dead body slumped to the floor.

Vasir held up a data pad that she found on Kahoku's body, "Chiron, I found a recording from Kahoku." she said as she handed it to him.

Chiron played the message, "Raven, my poor daughter, I tried to get here as soon as I could." the message read, "To whoever is reading this, I want you to know that my daughter doesn't mean to do any of this, what Cerberus did to her was monstrous, please, forgive her and end the monster she has become."

"She will find me soon, all my men are dead, the Cerberus personnel are dead, and my legs are broken, it is only a matter of time." he continued, "All I ask is that the Empire remembers her as she was, not as this abomination."

Chiron grabbed the claw and data pad and signaled the squad to leave. The ride back to the Normandy was filled with silence as Garrus and Vasir didn't know what to say and Chiron just stared down at the data pad and the claw. Finally he turned his red cybernetic eyes towards Vasir and Garrus, "I'm sorry you two had to see that, I had hoped that we might be able to find survivors, I didn't know the extent of Cerberus's experiments." he said.

Garrus shook his head, "There was know way you could have known Chiron so you don't have to apologize to us."

Vasir nodded in agreement, "We will make them pay for what they did to all of our people."

Chiron smiled slightly, "All right then, I suppose we should turn in our report." he said as he brought the claw up, "And maybe see if there might be some benefit out of this mission."

**Normandy**

Chiron found himself in the training room after he turned in his report to Hackett. He hooked the claw up to his hand and tried to flex his fingers, finding that he still had full movement and that the claw was only not as heavy as he had anticipated. Chiron also noted that there appeared to be a round circle in the palm of the claw, "Hmmm, she said that it amplified Biotics, let see how much." he muttered to himself as he prepared to Biotically throw the closest target against the wall.

Chiron felt a slightly larger drain when he used the throw and saw the normal ball of biotic energy, however there appeared to be a darker tinge of energy to the ball and as it impacted it didn't throw the target, instead it caused a hole to appear threw the target.

Kayla walked up behind Chiron as he held up the claw and looked at where the ball came from it, "So, liking your new toy?" she asked.

Chiron nodded, "It's an interesting weapon, could prove useful in the right circumstances."

"Vasir told me about the facility, Chiron." she said, "How are you doing?"

Chiron shrugged, "I put down a fellow Wraith." he muttered, "It is what is expected of us."

Chiron turned towards Kayla, "Everyone knows the first part of the Wraith's code, but do you know that a second part exists, Sister?" he asked.

He saw Kayla shake her head, "I've never heard of a second part."

Chiron nodded, "We don't speak it often." he said before reciting, "So that they may better serve the Empire, and should we be compromised, by mentality or physical weakness, them brother must kill brother, sister must kill sister, so that the Empire's left hand, never falls."

Kayla looked at him in confusion, "So, the Wraiths are expected to kill each other if they go mad or are crippled?"

Chiron nodded, "When mad, we are a threat to the Empire, if crippled, we are a waste on her resources as service is all we know."

Kayla nodded and began to try and say something before Vasir burst into the room.

"Commander, the Council has sent news," she said smiling, "It seems that Saren might be on a planet called Virmire, if we hurry we might catch him."

Kayla nodded before looking back to Chiron, "Think your up for another mission?" she asked.

Chiron grinned as he held up his new weapon, "Oh, I can't wait to test this thing out in an actual fight, and Saren's blood will make for a great cleaner I think."

Kayla smiled at her brother's returning enthusiasm, "Good, I'll make sure Joker has the co-ordinates, maybe this whole Galaxy threat thing will be over soon, with as little death as possible."

* * *

_A/N Alright, I think I went vague enough with the experiments and details that this should still be T-rated, if not then the rating can be changed (it probably will anyways when I get into the ME2 portion, though I havn't decided it I want to make a new story for that yet or just keep adding to this one.)._

_I hope people enjoy this one and I'll get out the next chapter as soon as I can._


	13. Virmire Part 1

_A/N Alright, I just want to apologize for the delay, school has kept me busy. I'm also trying to slow down while writing these chapters and address some of the shortcomings that have been pointed out. Also, I am currently figuring out the Beta system here, so I am hoping to get that done with future chapters._

* * *

**Virmire**

Kayla activated the Mako's thrusters as it began it's descent to Virmire's surface.

"Alright Commander, the Council says that the STG force is at the other side of this ravine." Vasir said, "Once we arrive, then they should be able to give us the intel that they have gathered."

Chiron looked up from his station at the Mako's monitors, "I'm picking up Geth signals with us in the ravine, Commander." he said.

Kayla nodded as she began to drive the Mako down the ravine. Within minutes, the squad found themselves facing a Geth battalion. Vasir began to fire the main gun at the Geth, scattering the soldiers at the shell's impact. As the Geth tried to get behind cover, Kayla drove around trying to hit stragglers as Vasir used the secondary gun to mow down the remaining Geth.

"We are at eighty percent shields, Commander." Chiron reported.

"Understood." Kayla replied as they continued further down the ravine.

The squad drove by a small inlet on their way to the STG encampment.

"It's a shame that we can't stay to enjoy this view." Vasir muttered.

Kayla nodded, "Indeed, we might have to come back here when this is all over."

Kayla drove the Mako around another corner and arrived in front of two Geth Colossus'.

"Alright, I've got a plan." Kayla said, "Vasir keep them from separating too much and Chiron make sure that the shields and anti-gravity equipment is working properly."

"Roger that." replied both Vasir and Chiron.

Kayla sped up, heading straight for the first Colossus as Vasir fired at the second one, drawing it closer towards the first Colossus. The Mako rammed into the first Colossus and kept moving forward into the second one, drawing both of them towards the cliff face.

"Alright Vasir, fire!" Kayla ordered.

Vasir fired the main gun, blasting the two Geth against the cliff. Kayla followed the Colossus' into the wall, activating the anti-gravity equipment to ride up the Geth. The traction from the tired began to tear through the Geth's shielding. As Kayla drove over the first Colossus head, the tire crushed it's optic center. Kayla activated the Mako's thrusters, burning through the first Colossus, causing it to blow up as the Mako was throw away from the wall.

"The second one is weakened, take it down!" Kayla ordered Vasir as they realigned towards the wall.

Vasir began to fire a combination of the Mako's main gun and secondary gun. The combined fire on the weakened Colossus managed to quickly dispose of it.

"Not a bad plan Commander," Chiron began, "but, our shields are now down to thirty percent and our fuel is nearing empty."

Kayla nodded, "Well, let's hope that we don't come across any more Geth then."

Kayla drove the Mako out of the ravine and into what appeared to be the STG base.

"This would appear to be the place, Commander." Vasir said.

Kayla nodded as she radioed the Normandy, "Come in, Joker." she said, "Lock on to our location and descend, we are at the STG base."

"Roger that, Commander, we are coming in." Joker replied.

As the Normandy descended and began to unload the rest of Kayla's squad and it's security force, a group of armed Salarians approached. The Salarians formed a line and aimed their weapons at the Imperial soldiers. One of the Salarians in black and gold armor stepped forward and motioned towards Vasir.

"Spectre, I hope there is a good reason that you are accompanied by an Imperial force." he said, eyeing the Imperials suspiciously.

Vasir nodded, "Indeed, we are hunting Saren as a joint effort so, if you would, have your men stand down."

The Salarian nodded and signaled his men to stand down. He turned towards Kayla.

"I assume you are in command of these men?" he asked.

Kayla nodded, "Commander Kayla Shepard." she replied, "Is this how you treat everyone who comes to save your men?"

The Salarian shrugged, "Your Empire may not be at war with us anymore, but STG protocol is to consider you a possible hostile force whenever contact is made." he said.

The Salarian stuck his hand out towards Kayla, "Major Kirrahe."

After he and Kayla shook hands, Kirrahe turned towards Vasir, "We asked the Council to send a fleet, one ship may not be enough here."

Vasir shook her head, "We couldn't understand your message, it was little more than a garbled mess."

Kirrahe slowly shook his head and sighed, "Very well, we will have to make do with what we have then." he turned back towards Kayla.

"Here's the situation Commander, we were sent to investigate Saren's facility here on Virmire after his Spectre status was revoked." he began to explain, "We had to pull back to this location after the Geth began to arrive, however we were able to learn what this facility was being used for."

Kirrahe paused and looked towards Wrex suspiciously before sighing and continuing, "Saren is breeding an army of Krogan."

The squad's eyes shot up in surprise, "What?!" Wrex shouted.

Vasir looked at Kirrahe in surprise, "How?" she asked.

Kirrahe shook his head, "We don't know." he said, "All we know for sure is that this facility needs to be destroyed."

Wrex walked into Kirrahe's face, "Over my dead body." he began, "I'm not about to allow you pyjaks to destroy a cure for the Genophage."

Kayla put a hand on Wrex's shoulder, "We will talk about this later Wrex, for now, go cool off." she said.

Wrex grunted as he shook off her hand and stormed over to the edge of the beach, where he began to fire randomly into the water with his shotgun.

"Is he going to be a problem Commander?" Kirrahe asked.

Kayla shook her head, "I hope not, but I'll talk to him and try to get him to calm down." she replied.

Kirrahe chuckled darkly, "Calming a raging Krogan huh," he said, "I doubt it will work but he's your soldier so it is your call."

Barras began to speak with his troops as the rest of the squad moved around to prepare for the fight, "Get your people ready Commander, at your word, we will begin final preparations for the fight."

Kayla nodded and headed towards Wrex. As she neared the Krogan, she noticed that she was being shadowed by a couple of Barras's men.

"Stop you two, I know Barras get's protective, but Wrex is an ally," she began as she addressed the two Batarians, "return to the Security Chief and prepare for the real enemy." she ordered.

The two soldiers looked between each other before saluting and returning to Barras. Kayla finally reached Wrex as he turned around towards her.

"So Shepard, are you really going to listen to what that pyjak of a Salarian says?" he asked.

Kayla looked Wrex up and down before sighing, "What is it you would do in my shoes Wrex?" she asked.

Wrex growled, "I would tear the Salarian to pieces and use the cure on my people, you should know that, Shepard."

Kayla shook her head, "I'm sorry Wrex, but I can't allow Saren to gain a Krogan army."

Wrex raised his shot gun and aimed it at Kayla, "Then why are we still talking?"

Kayla held up her hand, "Before you fire Wrex tell me something," she began, "Do you truly trust Saren enough to allow the future of your race, to be his to decide?"

Wrex's eyes widened temporarily as he began to lower his gun, "No, the Council tossed us aside once already, I doubt someone like Saren would be any kinder."

Kayla nodded and pressed forward, "The Krogan do not deserve the Genophage." she said, "But a cure should be found on their own terms, not on someone else's."

Wrex sighed as he holstered his shotgun, "Alright Shepard, you made your point."

Kayla smiled, "I'm glad you saw reason Wrex, I hope we can make this up to you."

Wrex nodded, "We will have much to talk about when this is all over Shepard."

Kayla chuckled, "Indeed." she replied as she walked off to speak to Barras.

On her way to her Security Chief, Kayla stopped as she noticed that the Salarian was giving a speech to his men.

"You all know the mission, and what is at stake. I have come to trust each of you with my life - but I have also heard murmurs of discontent." he began, "I share your concerns." Kirrahe began to pace as he continued his speech, "We are trained for espionage; we would be legends, but the records are sealed. Glory in battle is not our way." he continued, "Think of our heroes; the Silent Step, who defeated a nation with a single shot. Or the Ever Alert, who kept armies at bay with hidden facts."

Kirrahe continued as Kayla noticed that his men looked vastly more inspired by his words, "These giants do not seem to give us solace here, but they are not all that we are. Before the network, there was the fleet. Before diplomacy, there were soldiers! Our influence stopped the Rachni, but before that we held the line! Our influence stopped the Krogan, but before that, we held the line! Our influence will stop Saren; in the battle today, we will hold the line!"

Kayla smiled as the Salarians began to cheer, "Well, if that is what get's Salarian's inspired to fight." she muttered as she continued over to Barras.

"Everything good to go, Barras?" she asked as the Batarian turned and gave her a salute, which the twelve Batarian and Human soldiers behind him mimicked.

Barras nodded, "Yes, ma'am." he replied, "Everyone is ready to give there lives to end this threat to the Empire." he said dutifully.

Kayla nodded, "Good, though let's keep the dying to a minnimum." she said as she turned towards Kirrahe, who appeared to have finished his speech.

"Is everything taken care of Commander?" he asked.

Kayla nodded, "Yes, I suppose that you have a plan?" she asked.

Kirrahe nodded, "I plan to split up my remaining men and your soldiers into four groups." he explained, "While we attack the facility from this side; you, Vasir, and a couple others, can sneak in from behind and signal your ship to come in with a bomb to blow up the facility."

"Why can't we just drop the bomb from above?" she asked.

"We can't be sure it would take out the entire facility." Kirrahe replied, "No, sticking the bomb in the middle of the facility is the best way to ensure that nothing remains."

Kirrahe began to shift uncomfortable, "I will also need one of your men with me, to help co-ordinate between our teams."

Kayla nodded, "Ashley Williams will go with you then, Kaiden Alenko will stay with us to arm the bomb." she replied while also addressing the two soldiers.

Kirrahe nodded, "Alright then, you will be team Shadow, we will signal when we begin to attack," he said, "then you will head in, if you find a way to help us from your side, please do, I'd like to return to Sur'Kesh when this is all over."

Kayla nodded, "I'm not looking forward to writing letters to anyone's family, myself." she said solemnly

"Alright Commander, get in position and we will begin our attack." Kirrahe said.

**Virmire**

_Two hours later_

"Teams; Zeta, Jo'edo, Arturus, and Kola, are engaging the enemy, Shadow." Chiron heard over the radio.

Kayla nodded towards there squad and motioned for them to move forward. The squad moved quickly, while preparing to quickly eliminate any scout troops before their location was given away.

The squad continued down their path when they came across a small outpost with a couple Geth guards. Kayla noticed that there appeared to be a radio dish on top of the outpost. The Geth spotted the squad and began to open fire.

"Take them out, before they can warn Saren!" Kayla ordered.

Kaiden began to fire his pistol from behind cover as he tried to throw one of the Geth into the air with Biotics. As the orb hit the Geth was thrown off the outpost and crashed onto the ground, headfirst. With one Geth down, Chiron set up his barrier and charged towards the other Geth with his claw weapon.

Chiron aimed the weapon towards the Geth and threw a Biotic orb at it. The orb crashed through the Geth's chest and into the dish behind it, causing a large explosion.

Vasir walked up to Chiron as everyone exited cover, "Nice toy," she said, "but next time, try to not alert the rest of the compound to our presence." she continued as she pointed to the now smoking remains of the dish.

Chiron laughed, "I'll try to hold back a little more."

Kayla lead the squad onward as she heard Kirrahe's voice over the radio, "We are experiencing heavy resistance, but it seems that the Geth are confused and the Humans are putting up strong barriers." he began, "However the flyers are beginning to take out some of our men."

Kayla's squad arrived at a crossroads in their path, "Vasir, which way do we go?"

Vasir brought up her Omni-tool, "According to the map that Kirrahe gave us, the left path takes us to the facility, but my scans are picking up a fueling station to the right."

Kayla nodded, "Alright, we will go right and see if we can't provide some help to the other teams."

The squad moved down the right path and onto a raised pathway. Eventually they came upon a platform with a few large fuel tanks. Kayla ordered Kaiden and Chiron to begin planting explosives around the platform.

As they finished planting the explosives, the team was surrounded by Geth flyers. Vasir quickly held up a large barrier around the team, just as the Geth started shooting.

"Damn fall back, I'll set off the charges." Kayla began ordering, "Chiron and Alenko, provide covering fire while Vasir keeps us covered."

After the team was a safe distance away, Kayla fired at the explosives with her pistol. The tanks blew up in another brilliant explosion of red fire, taking out half of the Geth flyers who were unlucky enough to be caught in the blast.

Kayla threw a singularity into the remaining flyers, catching them in surprise. As the Geth flew around randomly in the air, Kaiden picked them off one by one and Vasir was finally able to put down her barrier.

"Goddess, I hate doing that." she muttered, breathing heavily from exertion.

Kayla grinned back at the Asari, "Thanks for the save." she said.

Vasir nodded as they continued back towards the facility.

"Hmm, the flyers have disappeared," Kayla heard over the radio, "We may be getting some help from Shadow."

The squad finally came across the facility. Kayla noticed that it seemed to be surrounded by a small river and was an incredibly large complex. She also noted that the guards seemed to have disappeared from this side of the building.

Kayla lead her squad over the river and towards the facility's back entrance. When they arrived at the locked doors, Chiron scanned the system to try and find a way to open it. Chiron's eyes suddenly lit up with an idea as he plugged in a program to open the door.

"Hey Commander, I found something interesting in the system here." he began, "It seems that we could trigger the internal security alarms for the far side of the compound, it would lead any internal security forces towards the other squads, making the path clear for us."

Kayla nodded, "Of course it would also put even more pressure on our other teams."

Vasir spoke up, "The STG squads can handle it, and the faster we can get to the bomb location the better."

"Very well, trigger the alarms." Kayla ordered.

The team waited a few minutes after they triggered the alarms so that the security forces would be lead away.

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends." Kayla said while chuckling at Vasir's confused expression as the squad entered the facility.


End file.
